The Girl Wonder
by Green Kneesocks
Summary: Everyone knows Robin, the boy wonder. What they don't know is that this boy is a girl. Especially not her best friend. And just what was up with that mutant kid? KidFlashXRobin. fem!Robin.
1. Rachel Grayson

It wasn't easy being Rachel Grayson. To the outside observer her life would have been almost perfect. She was the adoptive daughter of Bruce Wayne, heiress to his entire fortune. She was a pretty, popular, thirteen year old girl. Sure, Bruce could be a little overprotective at times and she did have to take sudden leaves from school due to his business trips but other than that her life looked pretty good, publically. Her private life was another story.

It wasn't easy being Robin, the Boy Wonder. Sure, to the outside observer his life looked like a dream come true. He was not only a sidekick, but Batman's sidekick. He was on his own superhero team, young justice. He got to fight crime alongside not only his friends but also the rest of the Justice League. He had friends, a best friend, and he worked with Batman. He lived a life most thirteen year old boys would kill for. Except he wasn't a boy.

Sometimes she was Rachel Grayson, a little orphan girl spoiled sweet by Bruce Wayne, and sometimes she was Robin the Boy Wonder, sidekick to the Dark Knight. Her secret identity was a necessity. Bad things could happen to kids who fought against not only conventional criminals but also the likes of, let's say…the Joker, among others. Even worse things could happen to little girls who did the same. She started being Robin when she was nine, an age where there were few physical difference between boys and girls. At thirteen not only physical differences, but also emotional differences, were becoming apparent.

Batman had always planned to retire Robin and replace him with Batgirl, the public none the wiser that they would be the same person. For security reasons Rachel was not in on this plan. So she carried on as Robin. She bound her breasts, deepened her voice, and kept her hair short when she was Robin. When she was Rachel she wore a shoulder length black wig, stuck to her hairline with the same substance that kept her mask in place. She covertly put on makeup in the girls bathroom before school and took it off afterwards. She gushed over cute guys and designer clothes. She wore almost exclusively dresses, complained endlessly about how unfair it was that she couldn't wear makeup, and in short was a very girly girl.

It was necessary, all necessary. That's what Bruce told her and that's what she told herself. She loved being Robin but also loved being Rachel. Sometimes it was nice living a double life. She could fight crime, be a hero, and still ace her math test and run the dance committee. Sometimes, however, it wasn't nice. She hated lying to her friends but she knew she had to do it. She also hates the fuzzy feelings that would come up sometimes.

She wasn't like Wally, he liked a different girl every week. When she liked someone she knew as Robin she locked those feelings deep away until they died of neglect like a forgotten Christmas puppy. It started when she was ten and she got those fuzzy feelings for Speedy. She still kind of had them but they were mostly dead. Wally was a different matter. She had those feelings for him sometimes, like when he'd grab her hand to go show her something or when they'd hang out playing videogames for hours and he'd be near her, but she was slowly letting those die as well. It wasn't easy.

She met him when she was nine. They were fast friends being so close in age. Roy was older then, fifteen, much too old to hang out with a couple of kids. She had gone to his house for sleepovers, holidays, and just hanging out. He had never been to her house, for obvious reasons. He was her best friend and she, his. That was the way it had to be.


	2. Chance Meetings

Wally was currently on his way to Gotham. He and Robin finally had a day off, well, sort of. He technically had to run something up to Wayne Corp. He wanted to Zeta to the batcave and then make his way to Wayne Corp. but that idea was soundly struck down. He had to meet Robin, in civvies, at the Gotham Mall when he was done. So he had to zip up to Wayne Corp, drop off the…whatever was in this box…change into civvies, and get to the mall. Shouldn't take him more than thirty seconds. First he had to get to Gotham.

He was focused on the road ahead of him, dodging people and objects ahead of him when he heard a set of rhythmic footsteps behind him, going at practically his pace. Then they sped up. He took the turn wide, he was going too fast for a sudden stop. He knew that it wasn't his uncle he heard behind him behind him.

The boy behind him ran past and then stopped. It took him two seconds, going at that speed. The boy was his age, dark hair, tanned skin, skinny. He wore a pair of heavy duty goggles on his face, a backpack on his back, his shoes looked almost worn through.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" said the boy. New York accent. Brooklyn, maybe. His age about, maybe older. He was excited, a new meta with his power set. He didn't know this kid at all, or of any other speedster besides himself and his mentor.

"Hey, I'm…uh…" he wanted to say 'Hi, I'm Wally and oh my god you're a speedster too!' but he didn't. He knew better.

"Flash's son. The costume and the running kind of gave it away and all." Said the boy reaching into his pocket and pulling out a half melted candy bar. As quickly as it appeared it vanished. Wally wanted to correct the boy and almost did before he remembered something Robin told him when he asked if Batman was his father. 'The less anybody knows the better.'

"I'm Kid Flash." Said Wally. The other kid gave him a look that asked 'seriously?'

"I, well I used to be Flashboy, when I was like ten. I also went by Kid Quicksilver, and Bulletkid. Now I just use my name, name. Jeremy Malone." Said the boy extending a dirty, slightly sticky hand. Wally filled this away for later. A meta who openly used his powers, who was himself. The thought felt….good…in his mind. Maybe he was even a little, jealous.

"So…." Said Jeremy rocking on his heels. Wally had a million questions, many of them personal, and he didn't know where to start. A part of his mind knew he had to contact the League about this.

"How did you get your powers?" asked Wally, the words coming out fast and high pitched. The other boy, Jeremy Malone, gave him an 'are you serious?' look. He seemed to be good at that.

"Born with 'em, manifested when I was about five. Do you seriously not know who I am?" asked Jeremy

"No, sorry. Aside from my-The Flash I don't know about any other people with my powers." Said Wally

"Quicksilver." Said the boy with a deadpan look. Wally searched his memory quickly before he remembered the silver haired Avenger.

"Oh yeah, well we don't really get involved with-" said Wally before he was cut off.

"Mutants." Said Jeremy pulling a carrot from his pocket and munching slowly on it, sizing Wally up. Wally didn't know what to say. Yes, the league generally stayed away from mutant problems. There weren't a lot of them, more than metas of course, but they mostly just fought amongst themselves. When they did bring others into their conflict they had SHIELD, The Avengers, and those X-Men to deal with it.

"If you think I'm freaky you should see my boss." Said Jeremy finishing his carrot. It was then that Wally realized that he had been staring.

"I-I'm sorry. I've just never met a…mutant…before." Said Wally. Now he had questions. What was it like having powers so young? How did you control them as a kid? What mutant faction do you belong to? Do you have any brothers or sister? Are they mutants? Why aren't you on Genosha? How fast can you go? Can you vibrate your molecules through solid objects? Can you break the sound barrier? The light barrier? Why are you so human looking? Are you aware of the bugs splattered on your forehead?

"You probably have and just didn't realize it. Listen, it's been cool and maybe I'll look you up sometime. I live over in M-Town, the new one. I wouldn't come near, the boss doesn't like humans too much. I don't mind metas but flatlines piss me off. Anyway, gotta run!" and with that the boy took off past him, leaving shoe rubber on the ground. It took Wally a second to compose himself before he headed after the other speedster. Well, in the same direction.

"Where are you going?" asked Wally. If Jeremy had heard him, he didn't say anything. Wally followed the other boy miles out of his way. Past outdoor markets where he paused only to take food and what looked like seeds. In fact, Jeremy only slowed down to kick off his shoes and take new ones. Wally wanted to follow Jeremy home but remembered the other boy's warning. He decided to warn the league about this as soon as he could. He felt the box in his hands, messing up his form and slowing him down. He got back on the road to Gotham, cursing the fact that the contents couldn't travel by Zeta tube.

Rachel was still in school. Her mathlete meeting had gone late, almost twenty minutes late. She had to change into Robin and meet Wally. Not at school though, an unknown boy out of uniform would just attract undue attention. She was speed walking off campus, across the outdoor part, having already for a ride. The dark windows of the limousine made for an excellent changing room. A buzzing in her pocket stopped her. It was the phone she used as Robin.

" _Running late, meet u in a few"_

It was Wally. She smiled a little at the thought of him of all people running late. She stopped to text her reply when another message came through.

" _I met someone new, speedster, ill tell u more later"_

Now this shocked her. She didn't know of any metas with Flash's power's besides Flash himself and Kid Flash. Well, there was that Quicksilver guy but she seriously doubted Wally met him. Mutants didn't really involve themselves with human things…well until they did. No, if it was Quicksilver he would have said so.

"Leave me alone." She hear someone say. She turned around before remembering that she wasn't Robin, she was Rachel. Besides, it was just that weird guy from fifth period. He was harmless, everything she had managed to dig up on him said so. Still, the girl, Dani, was her friend. She couldn't kick his ass but she could still attract a lot of attention.

"Hey, leave her-" said Rachel stalking over there, her low heels hitting the concrete. People would rush to the aide of little Rachel Greyson, the golden girl of Gotham Academy and Gotham its self.

"Leave her alone." Said another voice, one she recognized. What was Wally doing there? She felt a stab of ice, was she compromised? No, he was probably passing through and noticed that this was a place where the females of the species congregated.

Wally had dropped off the box and was on his way to meet Robin…who still hadn't texted him back yet. Maybe he was busy doing hero stuff. Maybe he was kidnapped. Maybe he was replaced by aliens? Maybe he was actually his evil twin? These thoughts kept his mind occupied as he made his way through Gotham. It was somehow dark-ish in the middle of the day, it was dirty, it was…gothic. Yup, sure seemed like a place Batman would call home. He was coming up on a school, which meant a chance to meet girls.

Uncle Barry had a long, awkward, and unwanted talk with him after his powers manifested. It pretty much boiled down to, your mind can't always slow down with your body….special time in your life….you'll fall for a girl fast but you'll also fall out of love fast…don't bring home any babies…and some other parts that Wally had locked away in his subconscious.

So he liked girls a lot, so did lots of people. He didn't fall in love with every girl he met. He did want most girls he met, but it passed. He liked M'gann a lot but she was with Superboy so that was fading. Besides, she was hot and all but not really his type. If he had a type it was more like him. She had to like a lot of the things he liked. Wait, why was he fantasizing about his perfect girl when there were plenty of girls around him. Like that girl that was over there getting hassled.

"Leave her alone!" said Wally, a very high voice mingling with his. The boy say that he was attracting a lot of attention from Rachel Greyson and her fan club. He made himself very scarce very quickly.

"Thanks." Said the girl, not to him but to the girl behind her. Wally was about to say something something along the lines of 'Where's my thanks?' but then he saw **her.**

It was like the first time he laid eyes on M'Gann only ten times worse. She wasn't just hot, there was something familiar about her. She was shorter than him, younger too he guessed. She had black hair pushed out of her face by a headband and a school uniform that somehow looked better on her than anyone else. Her eyes were the clearest shade of blue he had ever seen. He fell for her. Hard.

Rachel, on the other hand, wondered why Wally was looking at her like that. She sort of liked it.


	3. New Friends

"Hi, I'm Rachel Grayson." Said Rachel giving her best sixty watt smile. Be liked, be liked, be liked. Don't make any unnecessary enemies. It had been a lesson well taught. A group of her girls, some of them her friends, were taking notice.

"Wally West." Said Wally coming down from whatever that was. Ok, so objectively she wasn't that stunning but she was still cute and her eyes were still the clearest shade of blue he had ever seen.

"Do I have something on my face?" asked Rachel who didn't really like being stared at, scrutinized. She got enough of that as Rachel as it was. She knew it was unfair but being Rachel was a little on the exhausting side.

"No!" said Wally just a little too quickly. He wanted to ask her a thousand and one questions, to figure out just who she was. He wanted to hold her, to kiss her, and some other stuff that he would kick himself for later because she looked younger than him. Like uncomfortably younger.

"O…kay. Well, There's my ride so-" said Rachel before she was cut off.

"Do you wanna hang out some time?" asked Wally, words coming out almost too fast.

"Uh, I dunno. I gotta go, see you around." Said Rachel before heading off to the limousine. Her shoes clicked on the pavement as she hurried off. She knew that it was a bad idea to hang around anyone from the team as Rachel. She told herself that as the fuzzy feelings made their big comeback.

Wally snapped out of it pretty quickly. Ok, that was weird. Super weird. She probably thought he was a creep. Oh, and people were staring. It was almost painful for him to get out of there at a normal speed. When he was out of site he zipped over to his original destination, too fast to see. Well, almost. He could have sworn that brown haired girl was looking right at him.

Rachel changed into her civvies Robin outfit while her phone vibrated until it practically fell apart. Her Rachel phone, that is. She got her clothes on and the last of her makeup off. Thank God Robin wore baggy sweatshirts. She flipped her phone open and took in the torrent of texts. Everybody wanted to know who that guy was and how long she had had a boyfriend for.

The word boyfriend was an odd one. Wally was a boy and he was her friend. Robin was a boy and he was Wally's friend. They were friends but they weren't boyfriends. And Wally didn't go that way. And Rachel was a girl. And Wally didn't even know Rachel which meant that they weren't friends which meant that he wasn't her boyfriend which meant that he could be her friend which meant that he could be her boyfriend which meant that it could work out in the end…this whole thing was going from whelming to overwhelming fast.

" _Where r u? Theres something I gota tell u!"_

Now her Robin phone was vibrating too. Maybe if she got enough phones she could cause an earthquake. Maybe if she had a phone for everyone she knew and their secret identity. She was hit with a spell of vertigo as she exited the vehicle. She searched for a threat but found none, except for the brown haired girl who gave her a look. She was in Robin mode now.

She walked like a boy, talked like a boy, she was a boy. Well, except for a few obvious features she was a boy. She was Robin, boy wonder. Wally was almost immediately at her side.

"Man, you will not believe the day I've had." Said Wally. He made a bee line for his best friend the minute he saw the other boy. He had to tell Robin about everything.

"Ok, I met a girl." Said Wally as he half led his best friend to the food court. Running across America really took it out of him.

"The speedster was a girl?" Asked Rachel playing dumb. It was flattering that she would be the first thing that Wally mentioned. Even above meeting another speedster. She made a mental note to look into that and to inform the league. It could have been trouble.

"Oh, yeah, him. No, he's a guy and he's a…mutant." Said Wally leaning in close and whispering that last part. There were some places with a lot of mutants, and some places without any open mutants. Gotham was one of the latter. They had enough baddies there already, they didn't need random super powered people adding to the chaos.

"What?" asked Rachel as they sat down. This was more important than food and fuzzy feelings put together. Mutants were dangerous. She didn't think that in a bigoted way, she wasn't a specist.

"Yeah, he just came out and told me. He said his name is Jeremy Malone." Said Wally. Ok, this was bad. The fuzzy feelings went away almost completely. She was Robin now.

"Jeremy…Malone. About our age?" asked Rachel

"Yeah, a little older. Sounded like he was from New York City. Maybe Brooklyn. Said he was living in the new M-Town." Said Wally watching his friend. He was excited to meet a new speedster and meeting a girl was icing on the cake but something was seriously urbing Robin.

"He is. Wally, don't bother that guy." Said Robin. He knew of the mutants, good guys and bad. The X-Men were good, The Brotherhood was bad, The Avenger's had some mutants and were good. Another faction called The Morlocks lived in the sewers of mainly M-Town formerly known as Bayville and they didn't really get involved in conflicts. The splinter faction from the Brotherhood, whos name was in flux, was staunchly isolationist and had been known to side with all mutant groups. And it's leader was said to be a few apples short of a pie. He told Wally this as quietly and quickly as he could.

"Seriously? I finally meet someone…like me…and he turns out to be crazy." Said Wally. Robin shrugged. Outside he was calm but inside he was worried for his friend. He never had an encounter with these people but from what he read it was best to stay off their radar. The league didn't really do anything because the X-Men and Avenger's had already taken responsibility for them.

"At least we have each other." said Robin

"And cheese fries, I'm gonna go get cheese fries." Said Wally. Robin nodded as Wally got up to go. She then put out a message to Batman. This couldn't be good. The official position of those people was that they didn't like humans, meta or otherwise. She had to protect Wally before he even knew he needed protecting.

Wally came back with more than cheese fries, he came back with half the food court. The next few minutes were spent eating, with the occasional observation or interjection. Rachel smiled and almost Rachel like smile as her best friend ate. It was funny, in a gross way. She supposed that she was funny in a gross way too. She had to eat like a boy after all. Robin was an average thirteen year old boy, not a prim and proper princess.

"I met a girl, too." Said Wally as he slowed down. That should hold him over until dinner.

"Like you?" asked Rachel already knowing the answer. She was really going to have a conversation about…herself. Somehow this had never come up before.

"No, but she's still great. Her name's Rachel, Rachel Grayson." Said Wally with a far off look in his eyes. He didn't know why he was so drawn to her and he didn't particularly care. He wasn't about to go marry her or anything but he would like to hang out with her sometime.

"You met Rachel Grayson." Said Rachel, her eyebrows shooting up to her forehead. She had to convey surprise and disbelief. Being the adopted daughter of the prince of Gotham made her its princess.

"Yeah, and she's great. You know her?" asked Wally. Rachel wanted to burst out laughing but kept the surprise and disbelief on her face. She slowly began to reign it in.

"I know of her." Said Rachel taking a cheese fry off the plate. She didn't pick it up with care, she had to stop herself from doing so. Robin wouldn't care if he dripped cheese onto the table.

"I just met her but we totally, clicked, you know?" said Wally. Rachel wouldn't have called what happened between them 'totally clicking' but it made her feel good that Wally felt that way.

"How so?" asked Rachel, her voice almost going up an octave. Robin was young but he wasn't that young.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" asked Wally, immediately feeling like an idiot the moment those words came out of his mouth. Lust at first site was a thing, love wasn't. Scientifically, sociologically, he knew that.

"What?" asked Robin with a barely contained laugh. Right, Rob was like thirteen. He was too young to really get…whatever this was.

"Never mind. The point is I really like her and she's great." Said Wally. Rachel was actually pretty flattered. Sure, boys had liked her before but this was Wally. He was her best friend, her bro, and he liked her. Rachel. Well, he didn't really like her, Rachel, because he didn't really know anything about her. That made her feel all tight on the inside, and kind of cold.

"What's she like?" asked Rachel, now wishing they were talking about mutants, anything else, again. She knew, the Robin part of her knew, that this would have to be stopped before it got any worse. The Rachel part of her wanted the exact opposite. Another part of her wanted a slice of deep dish pizza with extra pepperoni.

"I…don't really know. I just know that I like her. She's really pretty, she goes to Gotham Academy so she must be smart. Her eyes, Rob, I've never seen eyes like that." Said Wally. Rachel decided to cram some more fries in her mouth. There were the normal fuzzy feelings and something else she couldn't identify that made her want to lean across the table and kiss Wally. At least both Rachel and Robin agreed that that was a bad impulse.

"I'm gonna hang out by her school and give her my number…not in a creepy way or anything!" said Wally. If he was a girl and there was a guy hanging out waiting for her… and girl Wally didn't really know him…yeah. That could go badly.

"Don't you have school? And other stuff?" asked Rachel nipping this thing in the bud before it got out of hand.

"I had a free track today and if I run I can be here right when school gets out. We can hang out more too. Man, I don't even know where you live." Said Wally

"That's-" started Rachel before Wally cut her off.

"Classified, I know. One day I'm gonna figure out how to Zeta to the batcave." Said Wallly leaning in close and speaking so quietly that Rachel could barely hear him.

"And then the boss will have to kill you." Finished Rachel with grave seriousness, still close enough to smell fast food and Axe body spray. On him it work.

"Really?" asked Wally. Yeah, Bats was scary but he couldn't see Batman killing him. Scaring him and turning him over to his uncle, yeah.

"No, but he'll be really pissed and then everybody else will be pissed and then I don't know what'll happen." Said Rachel

"So, no surprise bachelor parties then?" asked Wally

"Hell no." replied Rachel, wishing she could be that close to him for just a little bit longer. She knew not to act on these feelings. When she was about ten she had a tendency to….invade…Speedy's personal space. People were still talking about that. On the bright side she now knew more about archery.

"Get a room!" called a guy from a few tables down. The kids around him thought that comedy hour was just hilarious.

"We tried but your mom's booked solid!" called Rachel. This earned her one of Wally's genuine laughs. It made her feel warm inside. They hung out for hours, just the two of them, until they had to go home. Wally had curfew and Rachel had homework. At least she did until she was summoned to the cave. Someone had broken into Wayne Corp and left no trace of themselves.


	4. Getting to Know You

This was a mission just for Robin. She had to identify the intruder and formulate a plan of action for her and Batman. Rachel and her fuzzy feelings would just have to wait. She had reviewed the security footage along with Batman's bugs and nothing registered. Just was beyond the common criminal. There wasn't the distinct shift of the walls or floors indicating that someone was fazing, none of the camera's had been tampered with, and aside from Wally's entrance and exit there wasn't the distinct 'whoosh' that came with the use of super speed.

She smiled at the thought of Wally but then had another. Wally met another speedster, someone who could be described as 'morally shady' at best. She enhanced the footage as much as possible. No, it was only the blur of kid flash. She watched again and again before she noticed something. Long after Wally left a paper shifted on its own. Someone was there.

Yes, there were small unnoticeable phantom movements. Someone was either completely invisible or camouflaged. She went over her rouges gallery before thinking bigger. Her mind was still on the mutant boy Wally had met. It wasn't that she didn't trust mutants, she just didn't trust mutants who abused their powers. She pulled up information on the boy. A picture of the boy taken after the Alcatraz Island incident with his middle finger stuck up graced her.

Jeremy Malone: age approx. 18. Sex: Male. Height: six even. Weight: 130 pounds. Eyes: brown. Hair: brown. Race: Caucasian Species: mutant. Power set: enhanced speed, reflexes, agility, healing. Pretty much the entire power set. The list of known associates was almost a mile long. Evidently he was pretty popular. She searched specifically for invisibility and camouflage. She knew of this group but not that much. The lesson on them pretty much boiled down to 'you see these people? Leave them alone.'

Ahh yes, there. A sister. Jessica Malone age approx. 21. Sex: Female. Weight: unknown. Eyes: brown. Hair: brown. Race: Caucasian. Species: Mutant. Power set: Light bending. A light bender, related to the boy who just happened to meet Kid Flash as he so happened to be heading to the place which was robbed by someone with the power to go unseen…and she had trained under Raven Darkholme for a time…yup, that was probably her man, er, girl.

But what did they want with it? It, being the caramel robot they found. Yes, a robot made completely out of living caramel was found. Yes, the caramel was living. The thing healed. It was creepy. The…thing…made its way from lab to lab as different people analyzed. General consensus was that it was something either mystical or very, very advanced. She decided to inform Batman of her findings and then starting on her homework. Hey, she had a secret identity to keep up and a near perfect GPA to preserve.

Wally said that he was gonna see her again and he did. He had the time, he could break the sound barrier, he had all the time in the world. He was currently hanging around outside of her school, trying not to look like a creep. She was probably busy with a club or something….or maybe she was avoiding him. Maybe she didn't like him. A thousand horrible scenarios ran through his mind almost as fast as he could run.

"Hi, Wally right?" asked Rachel in her best 'No, I have not fought alongside you for years' voice.

"Wally West, but close enough." Said Wally. She was smiling, good. She looked even better than he remembered. Not that looks were everything. She was probably really smart and into science and stuff like him. Well, a guy could hope.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see you again." Said Rachel. She had come to the conclusion that she could make this work. Batman and Catwoman managed to sometimes occasionally once in a while make it work. Black Canary and Green Arrow made it work. She would just have to always be in Rachel mode around him, no more civvies meetings. They could still hang out as Kid Flash and Robin but go out as Rachel and Wally. Screw that little voice in her head that said this was a bad idea.

"Never say never, beautiful." Said Wally channeling his inner Kid Flash.

"So, what are you doing here? I've never seen you around school." asked Rachel. She could feel her friends watching her, probably talking about how lucky she was to have an older boyfriend while her enemies were planting rumors about a bizarre sex life she didn't even have yet. Bizarre or otherwise.

"I just couldn't stay away." Said Wally before the doubt crept back in. No, now she was definitely going to think he was creepy. He wished he was in his Kid Flash outfit. Being in civvies made him feel naked, and not in the fun way.

"So…." Said Rachel digging her heal into the immaculate ground. Honestly, Wally felt like he was wasting a fortune just standing there.

"You wanna hang out?" asked Wally. She looked bored, he was boring her. He was nervous, and he hated being nervous.

"OK." Said Rachel. She told Alfred that she was going to be out with her friends after school and that she would keep in contact. Bruce was out doing Bruce Playboy Wayne things but she'd keep in contact with him too.

"Cool." Said Wally still standing there. He didn't know what to do. If it was Rob…but this wasn't Rob. But still, He always knew what to do with Robin. He'd have to see if Robin could hang out after this. Wait, why was he thinking about Robin?

"Good." Said Rachel feeling nervous. She hated being nervous. She made sure none of it showed on her face.

"Great." Said Wally unsure of what to do. He wanted to take her hand, to hold her, to kiss her. Yeah, most of those things would not go over well.

"You wanna get something to eat? I know a place." Said Rachel. Now it was just getting awkward. She had not been at war with herself all night to stand here like an idiot.

"Cool." Said Wally, and off they went. He knew what his uncle meant now, about his mind going too fast. She was younger than him, that much was certain, and the thoughts he was having were of the not so good variety. He knew, objectively, that it was hormones combined with his powers that made him feel the way he did. It wasn't the passing feelings he had for most girls, no, it was closer to what he felt for Miss M. He felt like an almost all encompassing desire for her; mind and body.

"So…where do you go to school?" asked Rachel making the appropriate small talk. She already knew full when where he went to school, lived, and pretty much everything there was to know about him. Well, that small talk would entail.

"Back home." Said Wally, his mouth running away before he could think. _Oh man…_

"Oh, you're not from Gotham?" asked Rachel like this was all news to her. It was surreal in a way, meeting him as her other self.

"No, I'm from Central City. I'm here with my uncle on business." Said Wally. She must have bought that, Bruce Wayne must have dragged her everywhere when he had business. That's what rich parents did, right?

"What kind of business?" asked Rachel, getting a small amount of delight at watching Wally squirm. How had he not thought of a cover story?

"The boring kind." Said Wally. How had he not thought deep enough into this cover story?

"Yeah, I get it. Bruce dragged me all the way to freaking Boise for a conference…." Said Rachel, chattering on about a trip which wasn't that boring. She was slipping more into being public Rachel now. She was Gotham's Princess and this is how Gotham's princess sounded to her followers. Her friends would have been hanging on every morsel of information they could get. Boys who liked her would be nodding, too busy picturing her naked or whatever to formulate a response. She hoped that Wally wasn't in the latter category. She wasn't sure if she was alright with the idea of him thinking about her naked. Great, now she was thinking about him naked. Now she was thinking about naked people in general. Puberty sucked.

Wally listened to her, trying to piece together who she was. He almost wished he was wearing his Kid Flash outfit. He was more, well, everything, as Kid Flash. Now he was just Wally. Wally the science geek. Wally the regular human being.

"….and then I had to get back because my team needed me." Said Rachel. It was a true story if you didn't count the villain who decided to ruin her day.

"You're on a team?" asked Wally trying to figure out as much about her as possible. From what he could tell she was small but had some muscle to her, if her legs were anything to go by.

"Yeah, mathletes. I know, total nerd right?" said Rachel

"No. I mean, science is really more of my thing than math but math's cool too." Said Wally

"Wow, I've never heard math and is and cool in the same sentence as not before." Said Rachel. She honestly hadn't. The other girls always expressed sympathy that Bruce made her do such a dumb extracurricular.

"Yeah, I get it. Where I'm from people aren't too into science." Said Wally'

"Which is so stupid. Science is, like, everything." Said Rachel. Wally was overcome with the urge to hold her hand, so he did without thinking. It was nice, her hand was smaller than his and very soft too. He laced his fingers through hers and rested his thumb on the back of her hand.

"Is this alright?" asked Wally remembering himself. Rachel asked herself if it was. Wally had grabbed her hand before, usually during missions or to drag her off to see something. This was different, nicer.

"Yeah, it's alright. But we're here." Said Rachel as they walked up to an unassuming diner. Wally was glad that she hadn't taken him somewhere expensive, being rich beyond his wildest dreams and all, but also puzzled that a rich girl like her would go to a place like this.

"You really like this place?" asked Wally. Maybe she was doing this for him, so he wouldn't feel uncomfortable. He'd admit that he didn't know too much about rich people. They couldn't possibly live on caviar and lobster and they had the money to go out to eat. Wait, wasn't that what they had cooks for?

"Wally, Earth to Wally. Come in, Wally." Said Rachel waving her free hand in front of his face. She knew what that meant, he was thinking really hard about something.

"Huh, what? Oh sorry. I just kinda spaced out." Said Wally as she led him to a table, menus already there.

"Yeah, I noticed." Giggled Rachel. It wasn't her Robin cackle, much nicer and sweeter. Wally loved that giggle.

"So, uhh, what are you getting?" asked Wally, his hand still intertwined with hers. He couldn't remember the last time he held hands with a girl. Wait, yeah he could. About a month ago, Linda from English. Wait, why was he thinking about Linda now, he had Rachel. Did he really have her? He was holding her hand, did that make him her boyfriend?

"Burger, fries, chocolate milkshake." Said Rachel not even looking at the menu. That meant she came in often. That was a good sign, right? She wanted people to see her with him and she was holding his hand. But he just met her, he couldn't be her boyfriend yet. Could he?

"So, what are you gonna get?" asked Rachel. Knowing Wally's metabolism it would probably one of everything. This was nice, he was nice. Holding his hand was nice. Nice and sweaty. Was that his sweat or her sweat? Did it matter? He was thinking really hard again, she could tell.

"Uh, the same as you." Said Wally breaking away from his internal debate. It was good that he picked the same as her, right? That meant he thought she had good taste. Uh, Kid Flash wouldn't have this problem. It was easier to hide behind a mask, that way it wouldn't matter if he screwed up.

"Cool." Said Rachel swinging her feet. She accidentally kicked him but he gave her foot a little tap back. Was he flirting? Was she? Why did people kick each other to flirt? What was a kick in the chest then? A declaration of undying love? She smiled. If that was the case then Batman would have had quite the haram at this point.

"So uh, you like…videogames?" asked Wally. They were sitting in silence and he wasn't sure if it was the good kind. She was playing footsie with him and she was smiling a lot too. Those were good signs, he was sure of it.

"Yeah, Sims is great but I don't really like that Sims 4. It just feels too small. Dark Souls is cool but Dark Souls 2 sucks. It's like a lazy clone of the first game. Or maybe the first game just spoiled me. I like Call of Duty and Halo too." Said Rachel. None of those were lies but she hoped that Wally's mind wouldn't connect her favorite games back to Robin. No, as far as Wally was concerned Robin didn't play Sims.

"Man, we should totally go back to my house and play Halo. I just got the fifth one." Said Wally without thinking.

"But you live all the way in Central City." Said Rachel. Wally kicked himself mentally for his slip up. She was smart, what if she put it together that he was Kid Flash.

"Well, you could come by for a visit." Said Wally. Rachel smiled. And ran her thumb over his knuckle.

"Yeah, that'd be good." Said Rachel. She was kissable, very kissable. He wanted to kiss her more than anything. It would have been easy, all he would have to do was lean across the table…the arrival of their waitress put an end to that bad idea. He wasn't as wise to the ways of women as he made himself seem but he knew that they didn't like to be kissed by guys they just met. They liked to be in relationships first, right?

"I'm gonna go change, I hate this uniform." Said Rachel making her way to the bathroom. Wally decided to ask Robin what to do and if he wanted to hang out. Well, if he wanted to hangout mostly. Robin was like thirteen and there was the rumor going around that he was gay. Wally knew his friend wasn't, Robin just thought Speedy was really cool and stuff. He got out his phone and decided to call Robin before she came back. Did girls really take a long time to get dressed or was that something that people said?

Rachel was actually changing. She really didn't like that uniform, it restricted her mobility too much and was actually a lot warmer than it looked. The handicapped stall was currently serving as both her changing room and a place where she could collect herself. Wally had been looking at her like…that…and it was nice. It was exciting and scary and nice and she wanted him to look at her like that again. There was a part of herself that she had decided to refer to as Robin who told her to break this off before it exploded in her face.

The other superhero part of her, Robyn, said that she could handle this. Wally liked her, she liked Wally, and she was not Robin or Robyn. She was Rachel. Now if Wally was looking at Robin or Robyn like that well it would be a different story.

Then Rachel 1 piped up and said that Wally and Kid Flash were two different people too. Another part of herself, Rachel 2, said that Kid Flash was actually somehow cuter and actually a much more outgoing person. Rachel 1 said that this Wally was smart and sweet and a good listener and that there was more to a guy than being cute and cocky.

Then Robyn and Robin agreed that it was better if they just had feelings for Wally and not Kid Flash. Kid Flash was after all different from Wally. But then Robin had to go and ruin it by saying that they shouldn't be throwing themselves at a team mate. Then they all reminded Robin about what happened with Speedy and the time he showed them how his bow worked.

At this point Rachel told the people in her head to shut up before she checked herself in to Arkam. Before the different parts of her personality could argue back her Robin phone rang.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Rachel in her Robin voice. Her entire body langue changed and she leaned back against the bathroom wall.

"Robin, hey, I'm in Gotham again." Said Wally from the table. He began to tear up a napkin out of nervousness.

"Why?" asked Robin, knowing full well why he was there.

"To see her again. Listen, do you have a girlfriend?" asked Wally

"That's classified." Said Rachel, the words slipping out of her mouth without a thought.

"Seriously? I'm not asking for your social security number." Said Wally, one napkin had turned into three.

"Why do you want to know? Double date?" asked Rachel, visions of herself having to run to and from the bathroom all night to change ala Mrs. Doubtfire.

"No, I just…how fast is too fast?" asked Wally. He couldn't ask his uncle without inviting all kinds of questions and he couldn't ask Roy because he hadn't been returning calls lately. Superboy would have been no help and Kaldur would just ask too many questions. He wasn't sure if he and Rachel were together yet and he didn't want to explain that he was running to Gotham day after day to see a girl he just met.

"If your clothes catch fire you're going too fast." Said Rachel, knowing full what he meant.

"No, I mean…have you ever had a girlfriend?" asked Wally. Robin didn't mention girls but he didn't mean much about his civilian life. Hell, he wasn't even sure if Batman was his father or uncle or cousin or what.

"You know I can't tell you that." Said Rachel. She had never had a girlfriend before, boyfriends yes but they never really lasted.

"I think she likes me but I'm not sure and she let me hold her hand which is good and she been flirting and smiling at me all day and I really, really like her and I want to kiss her and-" started Wally speaking almost too fast.

"Does she know she's flirting with you?" asked Rachel. She was flirting a little but maybe because Wally was older than her he thought she was flirting a lot because he was used to older girls.

"I guess, I didn't really ask. God, I really want to kiss her." Said Wally. He really did. Girls were always on his mind in one way or another and when he liked someone it made everything ten times worse.

"So ask her if you can kiss her." Said Rachel. She wanted to kiss Wally and he wanted to kiss her. She liked kissing, it was fun. She knew she would like kissing Wally. It wouldn't make things weird, it was Wally kissing Rachel, not Kid Flash kissing Robin.

"Right, right, girls don't like it when guys play games. Thanks, for a kid you're surprisingly smart about these things. Rachel wanted to tell him 'yeah, because I'm a girl' but she knew that if she went around telling that particular secret all hell would break loose.

"Hey, I'm almost fourteen." Said Rachel. She was almost fourteen and Robin's birthday was later than hers for security reasons.

"OK, OK. Hey you wanna hang out later?" asked Wally. Maybe he could even see the Bat Cave, but he'd settle for wherever it was the civilian Robin lived.

"Uh, yeah. I'll meet you at the park, you know the one, in like an hour." Said Rachel, shrugging on the last of her clothes. Pink T-Shirt, denim skirt, white hoodie. Pretty, girly, Rachel.

"Great, I gotta go. She's probably almost changed by now. Bye." Said Wally. Rachel was vaguely hurt. Wally never blew off Robin like that. No, Robin was hurt. Rachel's 1 and 2 were happy. Oh God, isn't this how the Joker started his descent into madness?

"Would you like some more napkins, sir?" asked the waitress as she came up with his food. Wally looked sheepishly down at the pile of shredded napkins and nodded. The waitress rolled her eyes and muttered something about kids as she left.

"Hey." Said Rachel as she sat across from him once again. He looked nervous, it was cute on him. She raised an eyebrow at the pile of shredded napkin.

"Uh…would you believe if I said that it was art?" asked Wally as he shifted nervously. She was back and she looked great. Not that he was only interested in her body, right? He knew that most of what he felt for girls was lust because he was fifteen. Was this the same? No, he liked her. She was smart and funny and he was sure that she had a lot of other good qualities too.

"No, not really." Said Rachel as she began to eat. She was going to kiss Wally. Was it too soon? She had known him for years, of course it wasn't. She ate because she couldn't trust herself to talk. She wondered if he'd be a good kisser. Would it be fast and light or one of those slobbery kisses that made her debate reaching for a batterang. Would he put his hands on her shoulders, her waist, or would his hands wander everywhere? Did she want that?

Conversation was light, both of them were nervous. Wally, because he didn't want to go too fast and scare her away but he also didn't want to go too slow and make her lose interest. Rachel, because she was going to kiss her best friend. She knew she wanted to, maybe she had always wanted to and never realized it. She never realized how cute and grown up Wally was. He was taller than her and he had filled out over the years. He had red hair, and freckles, and his shoulders were so broad she could just reach her arms around him and…yup, welcome to puberty.

"So, uh, where to now?" asked Wally. There had been a debate over who should pay, with Rachel getting her half. Was that bad? Wasn't the guy supposed to pay? Whatever, she was holding his hand again.

"Um, I know a great park not too far from here." Said Rachel shyly. There, they could hang out and then she could run home, change into her Robin civvies, and then meet him there again. Yes, this could definitely work.

"Cool." Said Wally with a nervous break in his voice. He wanted to kiss her and other things which he knew would with a question scare her away. How old was she, anyway? She was probably a freshman so like fourteen he guessed. They walked to the park, making small talk along the way. Apparently she was in more clubs than she had time for but it was OK because her dad wanted her to be well rounded or something. He knew she was adopted but she talked about Bruce like he was her real dad.

Wally talked about his aunt and uncle but not why he didn't live with them. He was grateful that she didn't pry. He wasn't sure if he was ready to tell anyone about that, he hadn't even told Robin yet. Wally told her about his school, about how he wasn't that popular and he got picked on a lot. She listened to everything he said, he knew she was paying attention to him, the real him.

"…and yeah, Babs is cool I guess. People are pretty cool to me but some people aren't. Sometimes they call me stupid stuff like charity case and circus freak but I don't let it get to me." Said Rachel. At some point she and Wally had found a bench and ha gravitated towards each other almost magnetically. His arms was around her, keeping her close. She liked it.

"I don't think you're any of that." Said Wally, his hand tracing patterns on her arm. Uncle Barry was wrong. He knew he loved her now and not because of his powers combining with hormones or whatever. He just knew that he loved her.

"I don't think you're a geek or anything like that. I, well I like you a lot." Said Rachel. She and Wally had been close before and she knew that she had felt the ghost of whatever this was. It felt warm and safe and right…and Wally was looking at her like that again.

"Rachel, is this alright?" asked Wally as she leaned closer to him. His hand traveled down to her waist, his other hand was at her back. They were so incredibly close.

"Yeah." Said Rachel leaning up to him. She closed her eyes and leaned forward.

"You missed." Said Wally. She had kissed him on the corner of his mouth and he was sure that that wasn't where she was aiming.

"Sorry." Said Rachel, turning bright red. She hadn't even known that it was possible to be so embarrassed. He probably thought she was a kid, or a spaz, or-

Wally leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth. She was wearing some kind of sticky lip gloss, he didn't mind. He was just happy that he was kissing her. He could count the number of girls he had kissed before on one hand and he wasn't sure if he was doing it right. She was kissing him back, and that was good, so he must have been doing something right. She was so small, and her skin was so soft. Her body was hard, muscular, but not like Superman proportions or anything. He brought his hands around her back, up her arms, and then down to her waist. She pushed herself against him, her arms were around his neck now and they were closer and he tasted…bubblegum. Yup definitely bubble gum.

Rachel never knew that kissing could be like this. It was the slobbery kind, but slobbery with a purpose if there was such a thing. He wasn't cramming his tongue down her throat or trying to pull her shirt off and she honestly wasn't sure if she wanted him to do that. His hands were everywhere and nowhere at the same time, who knew her arms were so sensitive. Was this just kissing, or making out? Was it making out only if they were tongue kissing? Oh…there was his tongue. That was…nice.

He had acted on impulse, he was doing a lot of that lately. He just wanted to know if that was her lip gloss he was tasting. Yes, it was. She made the most delicious sound. Was that the right word, delicious? Or just licious? Robin would know, he was good with words. Wait, why was he thinking about Robin now? Oh, now her hands were in his hair. Why was his hair suddenly sensitive?

Rachel was debating French kissing him when her Rachel phone started to ring at the exact same time Wally's did. She collected herself and answered it. She was needed. Duty called. Judging by Wally's reaction Kid Flash was needed.

"Um, I've got to go. Bruce says I have to come home now." Said Rachel

"Yeah, my uncle needs me too. So, um, tomorrow?" asked Wally holding her hand again.

"Tomorrow." Said Rachel reaching up to kiss him…and this time she didn't miss.

Someone had stolen Kryptonite from Lex Luthor. Everyone was in shock but it was Wally who vocalized it.

"Someone had the balls to steal Kryptonite from Lex Luthor?" asked Wally, now in Kid Flash mode. He was thrown a disapproving Bat look. Someone had the balls to steal Kryptonite from Lex Luthor, yeah, now was the time.

"They also left a note." Said Batman, his cowl hiding his eyes. He watched the way his daughter was distractedly looking at Kid Flash. Now was not the time for another Speedy situation.

"What, like a list of demands?" asked Artemis. The bad guys didn't leave 'hey, how's it going?' note lying around at their crime scenes.

"No." said Batman displaying the note on the screen behind him.

' _Dear Mr. Superman,_

 _We didn't steal the green stuff from Prof. Xavier's evil twin because we want to kill you. I don't want to kill you at all actually. Mandy just wants to talk to you is all so we need a way to keep you from flying away. We're not going to hurt you in any serious way, Mandy's just going through this whole "What am I? Why am I here?" thing and she thinks she's part super alien. I don't know, she's been weird ever since Jr. was born. Anyway, when you get bashed over the head with a bat with kryptonite glued to it please try to look surprised. Please and thank you._

 _-Jeremy Malone_

 _P.S. Also ask The Flash if he wants to race me and tell him I'll find him and kick him in the balls if he doesn't._

"That was…odd." Said Kaldur. He shared a similar mental sentiment with Artemis, the bad guys didn't leave friendly notes.

"At least he bothered to tell us his plan, so who is this guy?" asked Artemis. This was shaping up be a simple mission. Find this Jeremy Malone guy, get the kryptonite back, and kick his ass.

"He's an alright guy." Said Wally before he could stop himself. Everyone stared at him.

"Yes, you came into contact with him yesterday and we have reason to believe that his sister broke into Wayne Tech labs and stole something of interest." Said Batman giving Robin a small nod as if to say, job well done.

"You're hanging out with the bad guys?" asked Artemis giving him a pointed look.

"I swear I didn't know he was a bad guy when I met him." Said Wally with his hands defensively in front of him.

"For those of you who do not know Jeremy Malone is a mutant and part of a faction that is currently calling itself neutral. He is, however, considered highly dangerous." Said Batman. This time the screen changed to show many bloody bodies of guards with their heads partially bashed in. Gasps, retches, and sobs could be heard from everyone except Rachel. She had seen worse.

"He can run fast enough to break the sound barrier but that was recorded when he was fifteen three years ago, his powers could have grown by now. He has been known to use his speed to murder humans and incapacitated others. You will not be pursuing him." Said Batman

"But he killed all those people!" said Megan

"We can't just let him get away with that." Said Artemis, her eyes cold and focused and honestly a little scary.

"Forgive me, but such a crime cannot be left unpunished." Said Kaldur respectfully. Wally felt like it was his turn to say something but he didn't. This day had gone from great to awful. He knew that kid, he was even on his way to making friends with that kid, and now it turns out he's a murderer. He was also a little scared, of himself, it would be so easy to kill someone as Kid Flash. The human body could only take so much and go so fast. He was always careful when carrying someone not to accelerate too fast or decelerate too slow.

"It will not. Your mission is to catch him, away from all the other mutants. You will be guarding Superman."


	5. Meet the Mutants

The team was currently stationed around Metropolis, lying in wait for Superman's attack. It wasn't that they were protecting Superman, it was more like they were using him as bate. They were to stay hidden until the mutants made themselves known and then they were to capture the mutants. Nonlethal force only, they didn't need a problem with the other mutant factions over this. The team wished that all of the bad guys left detailed notes about their plans it would make their job a whole lot easier.

"Superman doesn't need protecting." Said Superboy for the millionth time over the mind link. He was not happy about this and he was making everyone else miserable. Unintentionally of course. The fact of the matter was that he both wanted and didn't want to see Superman.

"We get it." Said Artemis from her perch atop The Daily Planet. She scanned the skies for anything of interest and found some pigeons and an airplane but no sign of the mutants.

"We're not protecting him, we're ambushing them." Said Rachel from her hidden place. They were watching the entire city of Metropolis from the ground, the skies, and in her case the surveillance cameras.

"Guys, just how exactly are we supposed to, you know, stop them?" asked Wally, nervous out of his mind. He was going to be fighting someone with his power set who probably wouldn't be afraid to kill him. He faced danger on every mission but he knew that he moved fast and he healed fast so his main concern would have to be for the team. Not anymore.

"We will see when we get there." Said the steadying presence of Kaldur. Wally didn't know what is was but there was something about that guy that always managed to calm him down. Maybe it was an Atlantian thing.

"Guys, I just felt something…another telepath…" said M'gann, her mental voice shaky. She had been briefed about their leader, the main telepath, and her methods. She touched her mind out slowly and found a small child, transfixed by a balloon.

" _Iwantit/Iwantit/Iwantit!"_ M'Gann untangled herself from the child's mind. No, it wasn't who they were looking for.

"Sorry, false alarm. It wasn't their leader, it was a child." Said M'gann. She had felt them occasionally since coming to Earth, the human telepaths.

"She has children." Said Rachel, a program running that searched through security camera's for the faces of the main five mutants. New M-Town was an actual town and housed over two hundred mutants but if there was trouble it was the main five that were seen.

"Isn't she, like, my age?" asked Wally. It was hard for him to imagine having kids, raising them, at his age. He thought to Rachel before back peddling quickly. Yeah. That was way too fast.

"She's about sixteen years old by now and three years ago during the Alcatraz Island incident she was either pregnant or very fat." Said Rachel still scanning. The speedster moved too quickly, she needed to find one of his associate's. Preferably not the telepath.

"Wait, then how was she pregnant?" asked Artemis. When she was thirteen she still played with dolls. Weapons too but also dolls.

"When two adults of the opposite gender find each other physically compatible they get the urge to-" started Superboy before everyone began to shout into the mind link.

"I know it works, that's not what I meant!" said Artemis shaking her head quickly. That was not a conversation she wanted to have with anyone, let alone a teammate, let alone Superboy.

"Man, we gotta get you on the internet. You sound like a textbook." Laughed Wally picturing Superboy in thick glasses and a tweed coat lecturing the team on the birds and the bees.

"Can everyone please be quiet?" asked M'gann with a hand to her temple. It was like screaming in her ears but worse, it was screaming in her brain.

"This is neither the time nor the place." Said Kaldur shutting everyone up.

"Guys, I found them. Parking garage across from the Daily Planet." Said Rachel. They had appeared in a puff of smoke with what appeared to be the devil. There were four people; a girl who she identified as Mandy Kilpatrick, a boy she identified as Jeremy Malone, and a small child who looked about four or so years old. Some distance away was a white haired boy holding a green bat, she identified him as Daniel Malone. He was speaking to nothing, presumably his sister Jessica. But where was the telepath.

"I see them." Said Artemis readying and arrow. They had brought a little kid with them…whether as a shield or a student she did not know. All she knew was that these people had to be brought to justice.

"Do not engage until the team arrives." Said Kaldur being every bit the level headed leader.

"Help, Superman, help!" called a voice loudly. Superboy heard it first and went over there as quickly as he could. The rest of the team would be there soon and anyway Artemis was already there. He made his way to the source of the screaming and found a dark haired girl, about his physical age, standing there in a pink Superman T-shirt.

"Mandy, this him?" asked a voice from behind a car. Superboy looked through the car and found two boys crouched behind it with a bat. He began to feel sick.

"I don't think so and get that thing away from me!" said the girl, Mandy he presumed. She flew over to him and poked the front of his T-Shirt.

"Are you Superman?" asked Mandy. She had never seen him up close, only on TV, but she could see herself in this boy. The same eyes, the same ears, practically the same nose…

"No, I'm Superboy." Said Superboy transfixed by this girl. She could fly…why could she fly?! He felt himself get angry and before he could do anything he pushed her away. She flew back a few inches before correcting herself and pushing him into a car. Then he caught fire. Great, that was his favorite pair of boots.

"What's your problem!" screamed Mandy before an arrow hit her in the forehead and exploded. She wiped the soot from her face.

"Get away from him!" called Artemis as she fired another arrow. This one didn't even hit its target, it bounced off an invisible wall.

"Superman! Where the hell are you?!" screamed Mandy. She came all this way and planned this for like three whole days. Where was he?!

"Mandy, should I kill her?" asked a voice. She knew that boy, Batman warned her about him. Not the speedster but his brother, Daniel, the pyro-kinetic.

"No, keep them as hostages but remember the original plan." Said the girl, Mandy, as she pulled a small paperback from her hoodie pocket. Superman hoodie.

"Bash Superman in the head and then hope he's not mad?" asked another boy, the speedster, and before Artemis could even move she was tied up and her arrows were taken from her.

"Jeremy Jr., put those down." Said the speedster as he made sure the knots were secure.

"But dad-" said the little boy before he was cut off. The speedster, Jeremy, was flat on his back. Artemis felt the knots being undone.

"Jerk!" called the boy before he slammed into Wally. Wally had gotten there after both Superboy and Artemis disobeyed a direct order. He had scouted the situation first, looking for that telepath with a history of literally turning people inside out. He hesitated. He hesitated and look where that got him; sprawled out on his back with a deep cut on his forehead.

"Jeremy Jr., be nice he's like us." Called the Mandy, still waiting for Superman.

"No, he's meta." Said Jeremy helping him up.

"He still has powers." Said Mandy and before Wally knew it he was surrounded by a ring of fire.

"Yes, but he wasn't born with them." Said Jeremy as he picked up the little boy, presumably his son. Wally didn't know what was happening. They were acting like the bad guys they usually fought. There was no…urgency to their actions. Hell, their leader was reading a book in the middle of battle.

"Incoming!" called a voice from nowhere. Superman flew in, followed by the rest of the team, and taking a portion of the wall with him.

"Now!" called Mandy. Jeremy rushed off to the fire started and the green bat. He took it in his hands and looked at Superman.

"Mandy, let's not piss him off." Said Jeremy as he dodged several batarangs. Wally ran through the fire, he healed fast, and finished freeing Artemis. The follow battle was perhaps the strangest they had ever been in.

"I mean, he's like the man of steel and everything." Said Jeremy as he dodged several arrows.

"Looks, he's fighting me right now! There's an etiquette to this." Said Mandy as she attempted to punch the Man of Steel in the face and was rewarded with a sore hand.

"There's an etiquette to bashing people in the head with a kryptonite baseball bat?" asked the fire starter, Daniel, as he encased Miss Martian in a cage of flames. This got Superboy's attention and he attempted to attack the speedster when something slammed into him and sent him sprawled out on the ground.

"Jeremy Jr., cut that out before you hurt yourself." Said Jeremy before sending an arrow Kid Flash's way, which he barely dodged.

"Dad, it doesn't hurt. Nothing hurts me." Said the little as he held onto Aqualad's leg and then began demanding a ride. Kaldur was torn between helping his teammates and getting this small boy away from the battle.

"Jeremy, he's William. Remember, we agreed that if he had my power set I'd get to name him." Said Mandy as she effortlessly picked Rachel up and sent her flying in the general direction of the other team's speedster.

"Set being the operative word. He got your invulnerability but he got my speed." Said Jeremy as he bashed Kaldur in the arm with the bat.

"I'd have that looked at if I were you. Daniel, I'm ending this." Said a voice from nowhere, presumably the light bender.

"Mandy says not to kill anyone." Said Daniel as he held the cage without killing the green girl. He didn't want to spill any mutant blood.

"Who said I was gonna kill anyone?" Said the girl as she trapped he blonde Robin Hood girl and that Superboy guy in a force field.

"Hey, I'm the leader and I'll decide when it's over." Said Mandy kicking Superman in the chest repeatedly. He grabbed her in a bear hug and restrained her.

"Mom, is it over?" asked the little boy with the disputed name as he clung to the water boy's back. This wasn't a very fun ride.

"Its over." Said the girl revealing herself. She walked up to Superman and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hello, my name is Jessica Malone and I am speaking on behalf of the governing body of M-Town formerly known as the New Brotherhood, formerly known as The Brotherhood of Friendly Mutants, formerly known as The Brotherhood of Regular Mutants." Said the girl, Jessica, in a very businesslike tone. Rachel waited for her to let her guard down. A gas bomb, a smoke bomb, and she'd be out. Her shield would be down and Superboy, being invulnerable, could knock out the fire starter. Miss Martian could telepathically take out their speedster and their leader.

"Do it now?" asked their speedster holding the bat just a little too enthusiastically.

"Jeremy, I'm trying to be diplomatic! Anyway, yes, we were going to bash you in the head with this, tie you up, and question you. This was not my plan, I am not acting as leader. Mandy is until our current leader returns from Genosha." Said Jessica

"And as our leader I demand that-" said Mandy before being silenced with what could only be described as a bat-glare.

"I am second in command to the leader and due to the damaging actions of our current leader I am once again assuming command. Do you understand that I am the one in charge here?" asked Jessica

"What do you want with me?" asked Superman. This was just too strange. He head someone calling for help but then the sounds of a struggle. He went to help and was in a fight with people just out of childhood and an actual child. A child with superhuman abilities but still a child. Now, he was holding what could have been another member of his race in a bear hug while a mutant was attempting to be diplomatic.

"We wish to speak with you, nothing more. We did not wish to involve your faction, nor did I wish to involve mine. Mutants generally don't get involved in meta affairs after all. This, however, is not between mutant and metas-" started Jessica before she was cut off

"What about that thing with the-" said the speedster before he received another 'shut up or you'll get it glare' because calling it a bat glare just felt wrong.

"I am talking! Jeremy, do you want to be in charge?" said Jessica pinching the bridge of her nose. The walls of her force field shuddered. Wally and Robin shared a look before sending their idea over the mind link. Miss Martian was barely able to hold the link together and transmitted that last plan.

"Hell no!" said Jeremy, his voice going so fast he sounded like the fourth chipmunk.

"What kind of leader are you, anyway?" asked Wally

"What?" asked Jessica, the force field shuddering with her annoyance. This is why she didn't leave M-Town. This is why they didn't go on missions unless Prof. Xavier or Mr. Lehnsherr asked them very nicely.

"Yeah, this was the stupidest plan ever. I mean, messing with Superman?" Said Superboy casting a glance at his 'father'.

"I mean, you let that idiot be in command. Who the hell makes a weapon out of something they're vulnerable to?" asked Artemis

"Yeah, and not bringing backup or having a contingency plan? Rookie mistake." Said Robin scoffing. He knew that this would especially make her man, they didn't like humans after all.

"And to bring a child into battle where you knew he would be a hindrance." Said Kaldur with a dismissive shake of his head.

"They're annoying, can I bake them from the inside now?" asked Daniel with a not all the way there look in his eye that chilled them to the bone. Rachel was reminded of the Joker, almost.

"No, then we'll have a war with the metas. We said we were coming here to talk…so let me talk!" screamed Jessica, her clothes turning invisible for a moment. Rachel didn't like how Wally looked at her. Robin didn't care.

"Listen, Mr. Superman, it is in your best interest to listen to us. After all, isn't it a little odd that this is the place where we would wait for you?" asked Jessica rhetorically. She smiled as he blanched. Secret identities were so stupid. She was proud to be a mutant and she had no reason to hide who she was behind a stupid pair of glasses.

"What do you want?" asked Superman gravelly. If these….people….revealed him them the entire house of cards could come tumbling down.

"Do you know a woman named Katherine Kilpatrick?" asked Mandy from where she was crushed into his chest.

"Kate? We haven't spoken in almost twenty years." Said Superman looking down at the dark haired girl in his arms.

"But you knew her?" asked Mandy

"Yes, but what does this have to do with anything?" asked Superman, a growing fear pooled in the pit of his stomach. He vaguely felt a cool breeze, the fire started was distracted.

"She is, was, my mother. I don't know what happened to her. The doctors never could get a needle in my arm when I was a baby, I hovered at one. To make a long story short I threw my creepy foster father through a brick wall, ran away, hooked up with a bunch of factions, met Jeremy over there, met Clementine So-Not-Darling Lehnsherr, had a kid, and now I'm here." Said Mandy. Superman dropped her in shock. She picked herself up and brushed herself off. She grabbed his arm and anchored herself to the ground, both feet completely flat on the ground. Man, he was strong, this is why she wanted to knock him out.

"Man, I should have brought a camera." Said Jeremy as he looked at Superman's white face. The guy looked like he wanted to fly around the world backwards and make sure his past-self used a rubber.

"So, the other guy is like your brother or something?" asked Daniel as he tapped the green girl with his foot. Might have been a relation of Clem's for all he knew. Hell, maybe he and the Bat boy were secret brothers born of an affair between Batman and….what was the red runner's name? Yeah, Flash. Born of Batman and the Flash making him and Flash Jr., brothers too.

"Get away from her!" screamed Superboy before identical eyes met his. She slackened her grip on Superman and he took the opening and flew away.

"Uh, Mandy? Jessica? What now?" asked Jeremy as he pulled a water bottle from his backpack. That mutant girl looked dehydrated.

"We leave, get out telepath to call Azazel, and go home. Unless Supergirl over here has a problem with that." Said Jessica letting her force field drop. The battle was over, this group lost. Time for everyone to go home and lick their wounds.

"That ok, Mandy?" asked Jeremy as he poured some water on the green girl. He didn't know what her friends looked so confused about. Mutants may fight other mutants but they helped each other too.

"Mandy?" asked Daniel as he put the bat back into the led lined sack. They stole kryptonite, pissed off the metas, and bothered his son for nothing.

"Mom?" asked the little boy, zipping over to his mother's side. He looked up at her with the wide, concerned eyes only a small child could posses.

"Who are you?" asked Mandy coming up to Superboy. She hovered until she was eyes level with him.

"I'm his clone, Superman's I mean." Said Superboy as he looked this girl over. He actually felt kind of…glad. Superman had blown her off two and she was his naturally made daughter.

"Amanda Kilpatrick." Said Mandy holding out her hand. She may have lost a father but she gained a brother. The mission wasn't a complete loss.

"Connor Kent." Said Superboy using the name M'gann gave him.

"If you care to find me, look in M-Town." Said Mandy before she picked up her son and flew away. The others got into a shimmering sphere which began to accelerate before disappearing.

"Well, that was certainly…not asterous." Said Rachel trying to fill the silence. It worked.


	6. In the Park

Things were tense in the cave to say the least. Superboy was a lot less than happy and had eventually gone off on his own to blow off some steam. M'gann was trying to lift his spirits, Kaldur offered support, Kid Flash tried to distract him, Artemis tried to make sense of everything, and Rachel left him alone. She had plenty to do anyway. She threw herself into her work, in an effort to get to the bottom of this and in an effort to avoid Wally. Not that she would ever admit to avoiding him, of course. No, she just had other stuff on her plate, stuff of the mutant variety. Stuff of the 'What the hell was that?' variety.

She had intel on everyone there but the child, he had no records what so ever. DNA had been taken from the scene, those people had been careless, and the child and his mother had confirmed part Kryptonian DNA. The child had an active meta gene, was part kryptonian, and was running free. That worried Rachel, a superpowered child running free where he could do all sorts of damage. She knew that they were supposed to leave the mutants alone, this mission was now in SHIELD's hands, but it was quickly becoming a repeat of CADMUS.

While Rachel spent her time working Wally was licking his wounds. He had gotten his ass handed to him by a little boy. He had failed his team. Hell, he had failed Superman. Well, that last one wasn't so bad. Like Artemis said 'Superman couldn't take them, what chance did we have?' or something to that effect. He had gotten distracted and put in a position where he had to fight a child. Not that he would have fought the kid, of course, he wasn't going to fight a four year old no matter what powers they had. The stench of defeat clung to him and he didn't like it. Defeat at the hands of that other team. Group? Faction?. Kladur said to take it as a learning experience and he did. He almost wanted a rematch. He expressed this numerous times, and each time he was reminded, with some very choice words, that what he wanted was a terrible idea.

Even Robin was against him, and that stung. He knew, logically, to leave them alone but they had hurt him and his team. It wasn't because they were mutants, it was because they had threatened not only Superman but also his friends. Besides, from what Robin told him these people were career criminals even now that they had their own little place to live. Hell, they stole kryptonite and tried to kidnap Superman and-and now the team was just supposed to turn them over to that SHEILD place whatever it was. Not that he was the kind of person who felt righteous indignation or anything like that, no, it was the principal of the matter.

He mulled this over all weekend at the cave, and then as he made his way back home to live another week as Wally West. Well, on the bright side he was going to see Rachel again. He needed to see her again. He needed to see her smile, and laugh, and all that stuff. He needed to kiss her again too. He needed to kiss her and hold her and…well he'd stick to that. He didn't want to scare her off or anything.

Rachel, at home in her own bed, thought of very much the same thing. She mostly did stuff with the team on the weekends, patrol with Batman on weekends, and school every week day. She had a window of a few hours a day to see Wally as Rachel, and then as Robin, before becoming Robin and protecting Gotham. She needed to see Wally again, as Rachel. She liked him a lot. He was so smart and cute and funny and a lot of other stuff too. Oh, and he was such a great kisser. She smiled to herself. Yes, she could make this work.

Superboy didn't come home that night. No, he decided to seek out that girl he met, Amanda, Mandy, his sister…he needed to see her. He had a sister. He had a nephew. He had a father. Well, he was technically a clone but Superman's DNA had made him so Superman was his father. A father that wanted nothing to do with him. It actually made him feel a little better, knowing that he treated her the same way. He knew that it was wrong to feel like that but…well…it was nice to not be so alone. He remembered what she said. If he cared to find her. Well, he cared to find her. He'd just have to find out where M-Town was. He wasn't running away…he was just…going on a trip.

Rachel was looking forward to the end of school. It had been a good day. She got an A on her history test, didn't fall asleep in English, and Wally would most likely be meeting her after school. She could make this work and she would make this work because it most certainly could and would work. If she kept telling herself this then it would be true.

Sure enough there was Wally, waiting for her. He seemed to be looking for her, it felt nice, in a way.

"Wally?!" she called out, waving her hand above her head not unlike a girlfriend calling her boyfriend. Was Wally her boyfriend?

"Hey, Rachel." Said Wally as Rachel ran over to him, practically crashing into his arms. Seeing her made him feel better, like coming into a warm house after a cold winter's day.

"I missed you." Said Rachel as she pressed her head to his chest. Seeing him made her feel almost normal. Not that she wanted to stop being Robin or anything but it was nice to take a break. She was just a girl hanging out with her boyfriend after school.

"Missed you too." Said Wally as she pulled away from him and held his hand. That was a girlfriend thing to do, right? Was she his girlfriend?

"So…." Said Rachel looking at nothing in particular. She was at a loss for what to do. She wanted to kiss him again, kissing was great, but she couldn't just start kissing him in front of her school where everyone could see.

"You wanna go hang out at the park or something?" asked Wally. That was a boyfriend thing to do, right? Girls like walks in the park, right?

"Sure." Said Rachel. They walked together down the streets of Gotham, everything looking a little less dreary than normal. Wally was at her side talking animatedly with her about videogames. It was nice, not to worry about team stuff. No AWOL Superboy, no crazy mutants, no secret identity, just Rachel and Wally going to the park.

"….which everyone says is a waste of money but I don't think so. Besides, it's my money and I'll waste it however I want." Said Wally well aware of the fact that he was babbling. He was nervous, she made him nervous. What if he said or did the wrong thing and ruined everything? What if he came on too strong like he did with M'gann?

"It's more like extortion than a waste of money but it's not like I'm exactly broke so for me it's OK." Said Rachel her fingers laced with his. She felt more like Robin now, this was such a Robin conversation to have. Rachel could like videogames too. Just like the great Timmy Turner said 'I like Kissy-Kissy Goo-Goo and Skull Squisher.'

"They still shouldn't release stuff half finished. I mean, if I went to Subway and they only half made my sandwich I'd be pissed. Or, like, if your butler only half stuffed your lobster with caviar or whatever it is that rich people eat." Said Wally

"Oh Alfred, this simply won't do! You know I prefer my lobster stuffed with prime rib and caviar! Make it again!" laughed Rachel in her best 'I'm so rich' voice. If she said anything like that Alfred would kill her and then Bruce would come and finish the job.

"And my crystal wine glass should be encrusted with diamonds, not rubies." Laughed Wally putting on a British accent of all things. He felt more at ease, it was almost like hanging out with Robin…only Robin wasn't a really cute girl…and he didn't want to make out with Robin.

"And there isn't nearly enough edible gold leaf here. I demand you go out and mine me some more." Said Rachel as she leaned into Wally. This was nice, this was normal, this was very warm and inviting.

"Wait, you can eat gold?" asked Wally picturing a room full of people in fancy clothes biting into gold bars.

"Yeah, but it doesn't really taste like anything. It's more of a garnish." Said Rachel. Wally did a double take. Ok, so his girlfriend ate gold. He ran around in a ridiculous costume and called himself Kid Flash. Who was he to judge.

"So I take it we'll be having dinner in a place where they have cloth napkins and the waiter is rude and French?" asked Wally only half joking. He hoped she didn't have very expensive tastes. Just sort of expensive, like Jimmy John's vs Subway expensive.

"No, that diner's actually one of my favorite places to eat." Said Rachel

"Really, what's your favorite?" asked Wally. They were at the park now and had found a semi secluded place to sit down. The trees and bushes provided some cover and the ground was only a little uncomfortable. He wasn't sure if it was him or her that had steered them there.

"High tea at the Gotham Lounge. Me and Bruce go there some times, just the two of us. Its nice." Said Rachel. It really was nice to spend some time with him outside of crime fighting or some stupid event where he had to be the billionaire playboy/doting father and she had to be the sweet adorable daughter.

"What's high tea?" asked Wally after racking his mind for the definition of the word. He ended up picturing something like the mad tea party from Alice in Wonderland. That couldn't possibly be right, unless the Joker was involved.

"It's just lunch with tea and little sandwiches and cakes and cheese and stuff." Said Rachel scooting herself closer to Wally.

"Babe, you had me at sandwiches." Said Wally. Rachel giggled in that cute Rachel Grayson way before leaning over and kissing him. It was a little off center and over far too quickly but for both of them it was perfect.

"Was that Ok?" asked Rachel staring at her shoes like they were about to come to life like that one time with the Joker…no, this was not the time to think about Robin stuff.

"Perfect, like you." Said Wally before kissing her. They were sitting down now, in the semi seclusion the park had to offer. Rachel leaned back as Wally leaned into her. She wasn't quite sure what to do with her hands again so she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, with one hand running through his hair. It was soft, very soft.

Wally thoughts were going a mile a minute. He was kissing her again and it was great and she was great and this was great and nobody was around and he was kissing her she was kissing him back and her lip gloss tasted like strawberries and he hand was running through his hair and they were all alone now she was pulling him closer to her and oh god they were practically laying down and oh God her skin was so soft and-

"Wally." Said Rachel pushing herself up so she was sitting again. Her phone was ringing, her Rachel phone.

"Sorry." Said Wally. Now he heard it. He hated whoever was calling her now. They had just established a rhythm to making out and she was so, incredibly, well Rachel and that was so incredibly good and ugh!

"Hi Alfred, uh huh, no you don't have to pick me up, wait, what time is it? Can't I just, wait, fine, I'm at the park. Just hanging out. Ok, I'll see you soon. Bye." Said Rachel hanging up the phone. She glared at it, willing herself to spontaneously develop heat vision or ice vision or something destructive vision.

"You gotta go?" asked Wally already knowing the answer. He didn't want to be apart from her, he couldn't be apart from her. Wow, maybe this is was Uncle Barry was talking about.

"Yeah, Alfred's coming to pick me up. I didn't notice how late it was getting." Said Rachel. Wally was certainly distracting. The sun was low and the shadows were long. Soon she'd have to be Robin again.

"See you again tomorrow, Babe." Said Wally. She seemed to like it when he called her that.

"Yeah, tomorrow." Said Rachel. They got up and dusted themselves off. Rachel shook the leaves from her wig as best as she could. Wally was in a similar predicament.

"Walk you out?" asked Wally holding her hand again. Her fingers were laced with his, she could feel him vibrating a little. She didn't comment on it. He was Wally now, not Kid Flash.

"OK." Said Rachel. He let go of her hand and put his arm around her shoulders. He smelled like Axe and grass and existential concepts. She liked it. He walked her to the entrance of the park and kissed her goodbye just before a limo showed up. She told him goodbye and go in the back.

"Do I need to tell you that what you are doing is a bad idea, Miss Grayson?" asked Alfred as they took off. Rachel crossed her arms and leaned back.

"No, because it's not." Said Rachel. It really wasn't. She knew what she was doing.

"Shall I inform Master Bruce of this not at all bad idea?" asked Alfred again as he glanced in the mirror at his young charge.

"No, that's OK." Said Rachel. Bruce would probably be upset with her and have a million reasons why this was a bad idea.

"I believe I have a duty to inform Master Bruce of these developments. I believe he would like to meet your gentleman caller." Said Alfred

"Do you have to?" asked Rachel, a little embarrassed at how whiney that sounded. She didn't want Bruce to find out and possibly ruin everything and she also didn't want Alfred to definitely get in trouble for keeping things from Bruce.

"Yes, I do, Miss Greyson." Said Alfred

"Fine." Said Rachel with a sulk. She was going to have to tell Bruce first in the most mature way possible. She was just going to have to show Bruce that she knew what she was doing and that this was in no way at all a bad idea.

Superboy had been doing some soul searching. He hadn't run away, he was just taking a little trip. He was jumping in no particular direction, just away. He needed to think away from the others. He had a sister. He had a nephew. Superman had rejected them both. They had tried to attack Superman. They had at least gotten his attention. He had interacted more with that girl, Mandy, than he had in his entire life.

Maybe if Superman wouldn't accept him as a son then he's accept him as an enemy. That was a bad thought to have. He immediately jumped off of that train of thought. If he became a villain, crossed over to the dark side as Wally would say, then he'd be an enemy to his friends. He didn't want that.

He was far from home now, very far. His stomach rumbled. He wished he had taken some food. He wanted to go back but he also didn't want to. Going back home meant facing his friends' concern. Their suffocating concern. They said they knew how he felt but how could they? Only he could know how he felt. Well, and M'gann if she decided to go inside his head again. She wouldn't do that. She wasn't like that.

There was a streak of color in the sky above him. He squinted and saw that it was that girl again, Mandy. She turned around and landed in front of him.

"So I guess you cared to find me." Said Mandy as she took in her…brother? Half clone? Person with biological relation to her.

"What?" asked Superboy as he took in the girl, his sister. The word felt weird. Brown hair, blue hoodie, jeans, white sneakers. All not in the best condition. She looked like him. Or did he look like her?

"I said that if you cared to-oh, never mind. Anyway, seriously, I meant New M-Town, not the first one." Said Mandy

"First one?" asked Superboy. The Genomorphs hadn't taught him about mutants besides the fact that they were born with powers.

"Yeah, the hell hole. I was just flying there to see if they had any new kids. We, uh, take their kids for the good of the mutant race." Said Mandy, her voice going odd at the mutant race part. Superboy was more fixated on the whole flying thing.

"I wasn't really headed towards anywhere in particular." Said Superboy, some bitterness in his voice. She was his sister. His sister who had a family. Who could fly.

"Well, if you want I can give you a lift to M-Town so we can, you know, catch up on the whole 'we never knew each other' thing. We can hang out, you can meet the family, we can bitch about our sainted father. You know, stuff like that. Oh, and I promise we won't beat you up with the Kryptonite bat." Said Mandy

"Sure." Said Superboy. He wasn't thinking clearly and he didn't care. If he couldn't have Superman than he'd have Supergirl. Or whatever her codename was.


	7. Awkward Talks

Patrol had gone well but Rachel's mind was elsewhere. How was she going to tell Bruce? What would he say? Would he tell her to break up with Wally? Well, if he did she wouldn't. She wasn't a little kid anymore, she could make her own decisions. Besides, Wally didn't know her secret identity and if anything this just made her secret identity all the more secret. He would never suspect Robin of being his girlfriend. It'd be like that movie about the rival spies who were married and didn't know the other one was a spy. Except she and Wally weren't married…and they weren't spies. Well, it was the same basic concept.

"Alright, what's wrong?" asked Bruce as he pulled the Batmobile back into the Batcave. It had been a slow night. Just one bank robbery and a few petty criminals. He noticed that Rachel seemed to be almost on auto pilot. Something was definitely on her mind.

"Nothing!" said Rachel just a little too quickly. Bruce gave her his best 'Bat-look' through his cowl. She shrunk down in her seat.

"I know you, Rachel Grayson." Said Bruce. It wasn't just that he valued her as a sidekick, but as a daughter as well. Something was bothering her and he wanted to know what.

"It's not a, well, a problem per say." Said Rachel shifting in her seat. Her Robin outfit felt tight and constricting, and not just because she had to bind her breasts. Even her mask was starting to itch which made absolutely no sense.

"Something's bothering you. Is it about school?" Said Bruce. Alfred had told him that Rachel had something to tell him and he assumed that it was about her grades. She was a smart girl and he didn't like her getting anything less than an A. B's were frowned upon and anything less was unacceptable.

"No, it's just…now promise you won't get mad." Said Rachel. Bruce frowned. Nothing good ever followed that request.

"I'm not making any promises." Said Bruce. Rachel took a calming breath while praying to whatever deity was listening for Bruce not to get angry with her.

"Ok, so…um…I have a boyfriend." Said Rachel, saying the last part so quickly she could have been the fourth Chipette.

"A boyfriend?" asked Bruce in a measured, controlled voice. He knew that this day was coming, but that didn't mean that he had been looking forward to it. A boyfriend. A friend who was a boy. A boy who she was in a romantic relationship with.

"Yeah…" said Rachel wondering how she was going to tell Bruce the rest. He wasn't exactly a card carrying member of the Kid Flash fan club.

"You have a boyfriend." Said Bruce in that same controlled tone. He knew that he would have to tread lightly. He wasn't happy about this, in fact he was the opposite of happy. Rachel wasn't even fourteen yet and she had a boyfriend.

"Yeah, and he's great. He's smart and funny and-and-and I really like him, OK?!" said Rachel panicking. Bruce didn't look OK. What if he tried to make Rachel break up with Wally? She didn't want Bruce to be angry with her, or to lose Wally, and she definitely didn't want to be fired from being Robin. She also really, really, didn't want to lose Wally.

"Ok." Said Bruce simply. Behind her mask Rachel's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Her jaw was practically to the floor.

"Ok?" asked Rachel. Bruce nodded. She was thirteen going on fourteen, how long could it possibly last? This would all blow over just like it had with Green Arrow's old sidekick.

"Ok. I trust your judgement and I know you can handle yourself against some school boy. I'm going to allow this as long as you don't shirk your duties as Rachel or as Robin." Said Bruce choosing his words carefully. It was the truth, he trusted her judgement and he knew she could handle herself.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise, I'll still do all my Robin and Rachel stuff and oh! Thank you!" said Rachel reaching over and hugging Bruce. There. She didn't know what she had been so worried about.

"Also, I want to meet him." said Bruce. Rachel wished that there was such a thing as an un-hug because if there was she would totally be un-hugging him.

"Do you have to?" asked Rachel in her best 'This is so, totally, unfair' voice.

"Not up for debate." Said Bruce in his best 'I am the father and you are the daughter' voice.

"You see, the thing is, uh….you already know him." said Rachel once again channeling her inner Flash. Unfortunately for her Bruce was fluent in speedster speak.

"I do?" asked Bruce raising an eyebrow under his cowl. He prayed to God that her boyfriend wasn't who he thought it was.

"Yeah so you don't have to meet him. Alright, goodnight I'm going to bed. School in the morning. See ya!" said Rachel attempting to exit the Batmobile. Bruce locked her door.

"Hey, the door's stuck. You know, this is kind of dangerous. What if there's a fire?" asked Rachel honestly contemplating starting a small one to get out of this situation. No, that would only make it worse. Besides, Bruce would kill her if anything happened to the Batmobile.

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. Now, who is it that I know?" asked Bruce. He hoped beyond hope that it wasn't who he thought it was. Or Speedy.

"Um, now try not to get mad. It's….Wally." said Rachel looking for the emergency escape. Great. That was locked too.

"Wally West." Said Bruce. He briefly wondered why God tormented him. That boy was, well, annoying. He was also fifteen.

"Yeah, you know, Kid Flash. Please don't kill him!" said Rachel spying the other emergency escape. She could get out, run away, and avoid Bruce for the rest of her life. No, she exaggerated, The rest of his. No, just until this blew over. She'd miss him.

"He's fifteen." Said Bruce. Rachel stopped looking for an escape and geared up for a fight. She imagined troops rallied behind her, ready to fight the Bat-army in the name of love…or really, really liking someone.

"So? I'm fourteen. Besides whatever happened to trusting my judgement?" asked Rachel. Bruce knew that look. She was not going to let this thing go.

"You're not fourteen yet and I do trust you. It's him I don't trust." Said Bruce. He wasn't too keen on the idea of his daughter, adoptive or not, dating a fifteen year old.

"Why not? You said that I can handle myself and besides were aren't even doing anything!" said Rachel. Now this conversation was going into awkward territory.

"You know that this can end very badly, right?" asked Bruce. He didn't want to see her hurt physically or emotionally. It was the former that he was the most worried about.

"No, because I didn't tell him who I am. This actually protects my identity more because he'll never suspect that I'm Robin." Said Rachel smugly. It wasn't like she was doing anything wrong. It wasn't like Wally was going to tell her that he was Kid Flash.

"Rachel, how are you going to face him as Robin when he knows you as Rachel?" asked Bruce calmly. Rachel looked him right in the covered eyes.

"Because when I'm not in this costume I'm not Robin." Said Rachel. Bruce let out a sigh of defeat. It was time to approach this from a different angle.

"You're right. You're growing up and it's time for you to start making your own decisions. I'm going to allow this-" said Bruce before he was hugged again.

"Thank you, thank you! You won't regret this-" started Rachel before was also cut off.

"But I want to meet him as Bruce Wayne, not Batman. Ask him to come over for dinner tomorrow." Said Bruce. Rachel once again wished that there was a way to un-hug him.

"No! I mean, you're so busy." Said Rachel. She didn't want Wally to come here and get scared off by Bruce putting on the shotgun polishing overprotective father act.

"I'm never too busy for you." Said Bruce. Under any other circumstances it would be a touching thing to say.

"But, what if we have a mission?" asked Rachel grasping at whatever she could. She knew full well that they hardly ever had missions during the week.

"Nothing is coming up that I know of." Said Bruce. Rachel was running out of excuses.

"But…won't Alfred be upset that he has to cook for an extra person?" asked Rachel wishing she could take off her mask and give him her best puppy dog eyes. She unfortunately didn't have the solvent for her mask with her.

"I've known Alfred for my entire life. I'm sure he won't mind." Said Bruce in a tone which told Rachel that this discussion was most certainly over.

"Fine! I'll go text him now." Said Rachel. Now the door of the Batmobile opened. She glared at it but, once again, failed to develop heat, ice, or something destructive vision.

"Don't stay up all night texting!" called Bruce after her. He then exited the Batmobile to make a call of his own.

Central City was a few hours behind Gotham so for Wally it wasn't that late. He had gotten home and gone on patrol with Uncle Barry. Nothing much happened that night, just the Trickster up to his usual tricks. He was actually a nice enough guy when he was on his meds.

Wally sat at his desk in his room trying to finish up some homework he had been putting up when his phone decided to make its presence known. A picture of a smiling Rachel followed by some text illuminated the screen.

" _Wally r u up?"_ Wally smiled. For her he'd stay up all night. Whoa, that actually sounded a little dirty in his head. Now was not the time, maybe later.

" _Sure am babe whats up?"_ replied Wally before hitting send. Maybe she wanted to hang out…no, it was really late in Gotham. Maybe she wanted to sneak out and mete him. Maybe she wanted to sneak him in. Maybe she-

" _Can u talk?"_

Oh no. He hoped that it was the good kind of 'can u talk' not the I'm breaking up with you kind. The thought of her leaving him sent a pain through his body like he had been kicked on the chest and stomach. He reluctantly pressed the call symbol. It rang.

"Hey." Said Rachel sounding unhappy. Wally prepared himself for the worst. She was breaking up with him. She already had a boyfriend. She had just discovered that she was a lesbian. She was pregnant. She was-actually that last one was the worst and indicative of many deep seated problems in their relationship.

"You're not breaking up with me because you're a pregnant lesbian are you?!" said Wally his mouth running away from him. There was silence on the other end of the line. He took this as an opportunity to hit himself in the head with his phone. Then he banged his head on the wall.

"What?" asked Rachel wondering if she heard that right. She knew that there were rumors going on about her and him, some of them bad, but none of them that….bizarre.

"Nothing, I was just worried." Said Wally. Great, now she thought he was crazy and clingy and-and-and lots of other bad stuff.

"But…I'm not a lesbian and there's no way that I'd break up with you and I can't be pregnant." Said Rachel slowly like she was trying to talk down a crazy person. That just made Wally bang his head on the wall again.

"Wally, is everything OK in there?" asked his Aunt Iris. Great, now Aunt Iris thought he was crazy.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Called Wally through the door. He heard footsteps in the hallway. That was probably Uncle Barry. Yay.

"Also, I think you and I need to have a long overdue talk. You see there are these flowers and bees are trying to do it with them, as is my understanding." Said Rachel giggling at that last part. Wally felt himself relax. Ok, she didn't think he was a crazy, clingy, overprotective, and other bad things, boyfriend.

"Sorry, it's just you said you wanted to talk and you sounded upset." Said Wally rubbing his head. Well, their relationship was fine but his head wasn't.

"No, I'm not upset. Well, I was. Listen, are you doing anything tomorrow?" asked Rachel sounding nervous again.

"Just hanging out with you, babe. I mean, not that I don't have a life or anything. I just really like hanging out with you." Said Wally quickly before she started asking too many questions or thinking he was a loser with no life.

"Do you want to come over for dinner?" asked Rachel quietly. Wally barely heard her.

"Sorry, the connection must be bad. What'd you say?" asked Wally again. He heard an aggravated sigh on the other end.

"My dad, well adoptive dad, Bruce, wants you to come over for dinner so he can meet you. Can you come?" asked Rachel. Wally dropped the phone. His mind going a mile a minute. She wanted him to meet her dad, well adoptive dad. This was big. Did this mean that they were serious? Weren't they already serious? This was a big step, right? He had a sort of girlfriend before and he hadn't formally introduced her and been introduced…and this was Bruce Wayne he was meeting. What would he wear? What would he bring? What if Bruce Wayne didn't like him? What if he embarrassed himself? What if Rachel decided to break up with him? What if this meant that they were serious? How did being serious change things? Weren't they moving too fast? Were they moving too slow? Just right? Would he have to bring her to meet Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris? How would he explain that he lived all the way in Central City? What would-

"Wally! Wally! Are you still there?" he could hear her screaming into her phone. How long had he been lost in thought for?

"I'm here. I just, uh, dropped the phone and I couldn't find it." Said Wally hoping that sounded smooth. Inside he was a ball of nerves and it manifested in the way he was almost vibrating in place.

"Ok. Well, are you coming?" asked Rachel

"Yeah, I'll come. What do I, uh, bring?" asked Wally. Was it like Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter, or the 4th of July where the guest brought something? Did he bring food, or wine? Wait, where would he even get wine? What kind did she like? Did he even like wine. Great, he was starting to zone out again.

"….so yeah, just dress nice and you don't have to bring anything. Don't worry, Alfred's gonna make plenty." Said Rachel. Wally calmed down a little. Ok, one less thing to worry about.

"Great, so I'll be there tomorrow?" asked Wally trying not to sound too nervous. It was just dinner. He was going to be polite, not eat too much, and not piss off her dad. He'd faced worse before. He'd be fine.

"Yeah, around like, six." Said Rachel failing to stifle a yawn.

"Ok, tomorrow at six." Said Wally

"Yeah, I'll text you the address. It's a big house on a hill, you can't miss it. Anyway, it's late here and I have school tomorrow. I'll see you later, bye." Said Rachel

"Bye." Said Wally hitting the end call icon before racing to his closet to try and find some nice clothes. Maybe just a nice shirt and pants? Maybe his suit? Maybe he needed to rent a tux. They were really, really, rich after all.

"Wally, can I come in?" called Barry through the door. He had just gotten an…interesting…call from Bruce. Apparently his daughter was in a secret relationship with Barry's nephew and Wally had no idea that she was Robin so that secret was at least safe. This still seemed like the kind of thing that at least warranted a super awkward uncle to nephew talk.

"Ok." Said Wally as he dug through his closet. Maybe his holiday shirt with his school picture pants…now, they didn't really match.

"Wally, I just wanted to talk to you about-" started Barry before he was cut off.

"Uncle Barry, do you have a tux I can borrow?" said Wally not really hearing his uncle. Maybe nice for Rachel meant fancy for him. On TV rich people always dressed really fancy for dinner and TV hadn't steered him wrong in any serious way yet.

"Why do you need a tux?" asked Barry as Wally emerged from his closet with a sock on his head.

"Because this girl, well she's kind of my girlfriend, invited me over for dinner to meet her dad. Well, her adoptive dad. Anyway, she said to dress nice and not bring any food so I have to find some nice clothes to wear." Said Wally. Barry walked over and took the sock off of his nephew's head.

"This shirt, these pants, your dress shoes, black socks, and I'll loan you a tie." Said Barry taking the aforementioned articles of clothing from the disaster area that was his nephew's closet.

"Are you sure?" asked Wally, face almost as red as his hair. He shifted in place, worrying about a thousand and one things.

"Positive. Anyway, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. I know you have a girlfriend." Said Barry. Wally nodded, calming down a little.

"Yeah, her name's Rachel. She's really smart, she's in like a million clubs, and she used to be a gymnast and she still kind of is but not professionally and she likes tea and she likes videogames, and she really likes pink and hates her school uniform and she-" Said Wally. Barry let him babble on at super speed until he got it out of his system. It was time for him and Wally to have another super awkward uncle to nephew talk.

"Wally, she sounds great but there's something I want to talk you about." Said Barry sitting down on the bed. He patted the bed next to him and Wally took that as a que to join his uncle. This wasn't going to be fun.

"Uncle Barry, you already told me where babies come from." Said Wally reliving that particular conversation.

"No, this is a different one. Neither of us wants to go through that again." Said Barry

"Is this gonna be like that?" asked Wally. He was never going to get over his uncle trying to explain human reproduction using his Spiderman and Wonder Woman Action figures. He couldn't look at the real wonder woman for weeks afterwards.

"No, this is about…something similar but not the same. But still, always use protection." Said Barry. Ok, now Wally's face was as red as his hair.

"Ok, I get it! Don't bring home any babies. Wow, this sure has been a deep an illuminating conversation. I think I'll be going to sleep now. Goodnight." Said Wally quickly

"This is important, Kid. It's about being your age and having these powers. Remember what I said about relative time?" asked Barry gently. He wasn't going to tell him exactly who his new girlfriend was but he was going to try and do some damage control.

"Yeah, that's why I was so hung up on Miss M." said Wally. He still liked her but not like that. When he saw her he knew he wanted to be with her and when she started going out with Superboy it felt like someone had ripped his heart out and played soccer with it.

"Do you think it might be the same with this Rachel girl?" asked Barry. Worst case scenario they broke up as Rachel and Wally and then the team suffered because it would also destroy the relationship between Robin and Wally. He didn't want to see his nephew lose his friends, his girlfriend, or his team.

"No! Well, maybe. The thing is that when I saw her I knew I liked her but then when I started hanging out with her it went from 'wow, she's kinda cute' to 'wow, I really like her' and I do because she's smart and funny and pretty and-and a lot of other stuff…and she likes me back." Said Wally. That was the difference between Rachel and Miss M. Aside from the whole, Martian and human thing. He tried to make Miss M. like him but Rachel just sort of did without him flirting with her every ten seconds.

"Does she like you the same way you like her?" asked Barry. Wally remembered their moment in the park. She kissed him back, she held him, and pushed herself against him-no, this was not time to think about this with his uncle sitting on the bed right next to him.

"Yeah, she likes me back. She even invited me over. When a girl does that…does that mean she wants to be serious?" asked Wally. He wanted to ask what serious meant, exactly, but this was his uncle. Besides, he could always figure it out later through the magic of the internet.

"Depends on the girl. I'd talk to her and ask her instead of assuming. This brings me to my next point: are you sure you're ready for this kind of thing?" asked Barry. He knew what he would have said at fifteen and he knew that Wally would probably say the same thing. He wanted Wally to think about this before he did something that he regretted…or got a batarang through his skull.

"Yeah, I mean I think so, I mean yes. I mean…I like her and she likes me and of course I'm ready for this. Wait…are we talking about…" said Wally

"This and that. Be careful about the that." Said Barry. Wally pulled his Flash T-shirt up over his head. He was going to be describing this to a therapist in twenty years he knew it.

"We're not even doing that and if I was of course I'd be careful. I'm not stupid." Said Wally, his voice muffled through his T-shirt.

"Not just that kind of careful. Remember, because of your powers you'll mentally go a lot faster than she does. I bet it already feels like you've known her for months. Right?" asked Barry. Wally took his head out from his shirt.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" asked Wally. That was exactly what it felt like. Oh God, was he going too fast? Was he going to scare her off?

"Because it was the same way with your aunt Iris." Said Barry feeling his wedding ring.

"You guys got married." Said Wally. He just had to do whatever Uncle Barry did and then Rachel wouldn't want to break up with him.

"Yeah, and my girlfriend before her. I really messed that one up, and it hurt when she left me, but then I met your aunt Iris." Said Barry

"Do you-Do you think it'll be the same way for me and Rachel?" asked Wally nervously. Uncle Barry was older and more experienced when it came to just about anything. If anybody knew he'd know.

"I'm honestly not sure. I do know that the longer you two are together the more you'll like her. Hopefully she'll like you. Maybe you'll be like those highschool sweethearts that stay married for seventy years, maybe you'll find some irreconcilable differences and break up after a few months. Just remember that whatever happens you'll still have the good times you spent together. If you do break up, or find out something that her that you didn't know or vise-versa still be amicable towards each other." Said Barry

"So, I should take it slow with her?" asked Wally

"Slow would be best. Also, I don't have to tell you not to tell her the big secret, right?" asked Barry

"No, I haven't told her a thing about it." Said Wally. He hadn't told her because it would be dangerous for her to know, just like Robin hadn't told Wally his secret identity.

"Good, let's keep it that way." Said Barry. Wally was then gripped with a startling thought. What if something happened to him as Kid Flash? Something of the 'don't ever come back' variety?

"If something happens to me…then tell her…well I'll write something down for you to tell her." Said Wally. This took Barry off guard.

"What do you mean 'if something happens'?" asked Barry

"I mean if something happens to me as Kid Flash I'll write something down for you to tell her. I mean, why would my enemies come after her if I'm already, you know, gone?" said Wally

"Let's not think about this. Let's talk about something else." Said Barry. He was most certainly not at all up to that particular talk.

"Sorry." Said Wally quickly

"It's ok, don't worry." Said Barry pulling his nephew into a one armed hug.

"Thanks, Uncle Barry." Said Wally. In that moment everything was right.


	8. Greetings From M-Town

Superboy was most certainly not running away. He was just taking an unscheduled trip; that was all. So why did he feel so guilty? He was currently flying through the air, going very, very, fast. The wind was in his face, there were bugs in his teeth, and the arm that he had wrapped around Mandy was falling asleep. He wasn't going to let her carry him bridal style, no matter how uncomfortable this was.

"Are you OK?!" called out Mandy as the wind whipped across their faces. Superboy thanked whoever was listening that she had an extra pair of goggles. He was invulnerable but that didn't mean he liked the sensation of bugs in his eyes.

"Fine!" called out Superboy loudly. He suspected that she didn't have superhearing. That thought made him happier than it should have.

"We've gotta stop here for a minute!" called out Mandy as they began to descend. The blur of green that had been the ground came into clearer view. They landed in front of a plastic gazeebo with a large cardboard box on it under the umbrella.

"Why are we here?" asked Superboy. Here was miles and miles from Happy Harbor or anything for that matter. They were at the edge of a road with nothing but fields for miles.

"Gotta check the unwanted miracles box." Said Mandy looking into the cardboard box. Superboy looked around. There was dried food and a milk jog of water underneath the table as well as a container of baby formula. A sign a little down the road from them instructed people to leave their unwanted mutant children there.

"So people just leave their kids on the side of the road?!" said Superboy with barely contained anger. He was angry about this, angry about what happened with Superman…actually he was just angry in general now that he thought about it.

"Yeah, but we only take mutant kids." Said Mandy like this was the most normal thing in the world. She picked a clipboard up off the table and Superboy could hear her pen scrawling on it. He was angry at her now, for thinking that this was normal. He was angry at the world, for making it normal.

"What about us?" asked Superboy. That was what Superman had done, abandoned him…them. If he was younger would Superman have just left him here, in the middle of nowhere with only warm water and boxes of crackers and what looked like turkey jerky.

"No, aside from you I haven't met anyone else like us. I'm not sure how many of us there are." Said Mandy putting the clipboard back with a little more force than necessary. She wasn't alone, not anymore.

"So it's just us and Superman then." Said Sauperboy spitting his father's name out like it was poison. It made him feel better, though, that she was in the same boat as him.

"My kids are a quarter Kryptonian, so there's that." Said Mandy playing with her goggles. It would be time to get new ones soon.

"Kids? You have more than one?" asked Superboy

"Yeah, I have three boys. C'mon, you can meet them. Should be quittin' time soon." Said Mandy throwing her arm underneath his and across his back. Next time she'd carry him bridal style no matter how much he protested.

They flew on, much more slowly this time. They stopped at box after box and found them all empty. At each stop Mandy wrote something on the clipboards, even if Superboy couldn't see anyone there. Eventually they came upon a large handmade metal sign, partially rusted, welcoming all non-humans to M-Town and warning all humans that they had better not go past this point.

"We're coming up on the wall now, just let me do the talking." Said Mandy as they began their descent. They stopped in front of a large makeshift wall seemingly made out of wood and scrap metal. It was about three feet thick with a large door in the front.

"Mandy, where the hell have you been all day? And who's that?" asked what Superboy assumed to be a guard. It was a young boy, around Robin's age, with glowing hands.

"Official stuff in the Old M-Town. If they have any kids they aren't giving them up without a fight." Said Mandy

"Degenerates." Muttered the boy, his hands no longer glowing. Superboy tried to match everyone's relaxed stance.

"De-gene-erates." Said Mandy stubbornly. The boy rolled his eyes. Superboy searched his mind for the significance of the second word. He didn't know it.

"Yeah, this ain't Genosha. Also, who's he?" asked the boy. Superboy kept silent and watched the town beyond the wall. There were others stationed at different intervals, some were clustered together, and there were also some of them on the ground beyond the wall. As he listened he picked out the sounds of children laughing, babies crying, the hum of generators, the roar of ovens, and someone singing very, very badly.

"This is my brother, Conner." Said Mandy, the name sounding strange to Superboy's ears.

"He stayin'?" asked the boy

"Visiting, now can we go over the gate?" Said Mandy impatiently

"Yeah, go on. Just had to make sure you weren't a shape shifter." Said the boy

"You saw me flying. Face it, you just wanted to talk to me." Said Mandy

"Just go over the gate, Mandy." Said the boy. Mandy stuck out her tongue before reaching her arm out for Superboy. He looked at her before jumping over the gate. She muttered something which sounded suspiciously like 'show off' before going over the gate herself.

"What was that all about?" asked Superboy as Mandy landed gracefully next to him.

"Well we can't just have people flying in and out, what the hell kind of security would that be?" asked Mandy as she began walking. Superboy followed her.

"Didn't look like much security." Said Superboy

"Yeah, well, we're stretched pretty thin. It's mostly just kids here, they don't cause trouble like adults do. Try not to piss any one off cause we still haven't fully recovered from the last powers fight. Oh, and don't go jumping around in town. If you can fly a little don't do that either, at least until they know that you're not going to be a threat." Said Mandy as they walked past what looked like shacks. Each one had a name written across the front door.

"You live here?" asked Superboy looking around at everything. Past the shacks there were trailers and RV's and past that there was an area dotted with some real houses as well as some store fronts. He could hear babies crying in some of the houses as well as a radio.

"Here, here? No, this is Shanty Town. Coming up is Mobile Town and then Little Town, that's where important people live. I live in the big house with the rest of the governing body, me and my family have our own room there." Said Mandy cleaning her goggle lenses on her shirt. Superboy tried to take it all in. It was different, very different, from his home.

"I have my own room, back at home I mean." Said Superboy. His room with its closet full of identical Superman T-Shirts, Superman bed spread, Superman posters, Superman everything. He was so lost in thought he almost missed the look Mandy gave him.

"So you stay in a room all by yourself?" asked Mandy like he said something insane.

"Yeah, we all do. Your whole family stays in one room?" asked Superboy

"Uh-huh. Me, Jeremy, Jeremy Jr., William, and Baby Needs-A-Name all share. Jessica shares with her daughter's too. Clem and Daniel have a room with all of their kids except for Dimitri but from what I hear he's too dangerous to be around. Do you, your wife, and kids all sleep in different rooms? How's that work?" asked Mandy trying to get a mental picture of his life. He said he lived in a cave and she assumed that it was some kind of a Morlock situation. Lord knows she'd stayed in worse in her life. Now she was thinking that he lived more Like Xavier's people. But that made no sense. The Justice League was the humans' heroes, why would they treat a nonhuman like that?

"No. I mean, I don't have a wife or kids. I've only been around for a few months." Said Superboy trying to comprehend her life. She lived in one room with her entire family in a town in the middle of nowhere. She had kids and she wasn't much older, physically, than him.

"Well don't worry, you'll find someone. There's someone out there for everyone." Said Mandy as they walked past a fork in the road. There was a sign with arrows directed at the various parts of town. Mandy didn't even look, she just turned and he followed her. Now there were proper houses. Some looked like they'd been there, others looked like they had been ripped from their foundations and plopped right down.

"Well there's-never mind." he wanted to say M'Gann, but what was M'Gann to him? She was always kind to him, she always looked out for him, and she always wanted to be around him. She was the one who gave him his name. She never thought of him as a lesser version of Superman.

"We're here." Said Mandy letting it drop. Honestly she could feel the seeds of jealously growing within her. He had his own room in a place that probably had water and electricity all the time. He probably had good food and didn't have to double clean the water he drank and could take a bath every day and he had probably never been abandoned or left for dead just because of what he was.

"Mandy!" called a voice from the upper window of the house. Sueprboy recognized her, it was the invisible girl.

"What?!" called Mandy with her hands on her hips. She gave Superboy a 'see what I have to work with?' looked and saw that he was very, very, very pissed off. Not good.

"How long does it take to get to Old M-Town? And what do you think you're doing bringing the enemy to our doorstep?" called down Jessica. She put an invisible wall in front of the Superboy. She mentally sent out a distress call, hoping that the telepaths would relay it.

"He's not the enemy!" said Mandy before nudging her brother.

"It's her." Said Superboy dangerously.

"Conner, quite acting like you're the enemy." Said Mandy getting a telepathic message that Jessica needed help at the governing body house. Great, and they still weren't done with the repairs from the last super fight.

"Listen, I really don't feel like fighting you." Said Jessica, now sitting on the window facing the outside. Superboy had a vague worry that she was going to jump. It made no sense because she was the enemy but he still had a small worry.

"Who're we fighting?" asked a voice from behind him. There he saw him, the fire starter, as well as Mandy's husband, Jeremy.

"That guy. Seriously, man, try to keep up." Said Jeremy quickly. Heh, and he thought that today was going to be boring.

"I'm giving you one chance to state your business and stand down." Said Jessica before letting herself fall from the window. To his surprise she didn't fall but instead it looked like she was standing on an invisible platform. She began to lower herself to the ground.

"He's here to see me. All of you, stand down." Said Mandy. Now a crowd was forming. Superboy tried to restrain himself. He was far from home, no way to contact the team, and there were way too many of them and most of them were kids anyway.

"Looks to me like he wants a rematch." Said Jeremy cracking his knuckles. So they'd have a little scuffle, what was the big deal. This super-guy was one of the humans' heroes and their heroes never killed their enemies. Now if Quicksilver was there for a rematch then he'd be worried.

"No, he doesn't." said Mandy mentally going over what she should do. He was strong and indestructible too. No, invulnerable. Maybe both being Krytonian they could hurt each other. No, wait, he probably didn't have any natural psi resistance. She mentally told the telepaths to put him harmlessly to sleep if necessary.

"He looks like he's about ready to squish us like bugs. Let's not give him the chance." Said Daniel. Their 'strategic retreat' was humiliating but now they could even the score. Maybe if they proved they could take down Superboy they could move onto Superman and then Genosha would take him, them, seriously.

"Daniel, your bloodlust knows no bounds. Let's let him speak, see what he wants." Said Jessica still watching him. He was angry, in a battle she'd just have to get him angry. That's what Raven would have done to an opponent to much stronger than her. Make him loose control and then he'd loose himself. She wouldn't kill him, no Kryptonian blood was even more valuable than mutant blood. No, she'd just contain him until he calmed down and saw things their way…or until Clem came back and rewrote his mind. Whichever came first.

"You! You hurt M'Gann!" said Superboy. He turned around and tried to take a step but found that he was held in place. He could hear a small girl from inside the house say 'I got him' and an older girl say 'Good, Danielle, now don't let him go until I say so' and then a baby started to laugh. He looked through the wall and saw a small green girl, and older red haired girl, and a baby sitting in a playpen.

"Yeah, that was in battle. Now we're not in battle, right? You get what I'm saying?" said Daniel slowly like he was talking to one of their mutant brothers and sisters freshly liberated from a human lab. That was where he came from, wasn't it. He felt some mercy for his Kryptonian…brother? No, cousin. Not from Earth but still with powers.

"Yeah, seriously. We're just here trying to survive. We don't want to fight you or your team and we never really did. Besides, we didn't hurt you guys in any permanent way even though we totally could have." Said Jeremy. Superboy remembered the security footage. Human scientists dead, one minute standing and the next on the ground. But they were Luther's people, they worked for the bad guys which made them by proxy bad guys. Like Cadmus.

"I apologize for any grief Mandy's half-baked plan caused you or your team. If you want to fight my idiot comrades along with pregnant women and small children then go ahead and try." Said Jessica she could see that he was being held. Good. Maybe the psychics would make themselves useful. Superboy wanted to rip the fire started limb from limb but by doing that he wouldn't be any better than the people he fought.

"Conner, the mission is over. We're not here to fight." Said Mandy grabbing his hand. He raged in place, unable to move. Now there was something even stronger holding him, and his rage was turning inwards. Soon he felt much calmer. Fighting these people would do no good. The mission was over. Their mission was never really to hurt anyone. All Mandy wanted was Superman's attention, the very thing he had been craving his entire life. She wasn't out to hurt his team so he didn't need to hurt hers. He could feel whatever was holding him being to release him.

"So there's not gonna be a fight? Man, this blows!" said Jeremy. The crowd began to grumble. Jessica rolled her eyes.

"Why are you two so obsessed with fighting?" said Jessica in a tone only a big sister could use. Mandy still held onto Connor's hand, her grip like a vise, her knuckles white. It was comforting, her being as strong and him and all.

"When did you turn into such a pacifist?" asked Daniel

"When Clem left me in charge." Said Jessica piercingly. Superboy could feel a wave of heat roll off the fire starter.

"C'mon, let's get back to work." Said Jeremy towards his brother. He wanted a brawl, a scuffle, not an actual fight like Daniel was itching for.

"Good idea. Everyone, back to work before the sun goes down. Conner, Mandy, I need to speak to both of you in the house." Said Jessica. Mandy pulled him towards the house as the crowd began to disperse, speculations over who would have won in the aborted fight coming up from the crowd.

"What?" asked Mandy as they entered they followed Jessica into the house. Connor looked around at the bookshelves full of binders marked 'food production', 'census 2015 A', 'hierarchy of command' as well as several other official looking ones. They were led to a room with a large table and several unmatched chairs. There were framed pictures on the walls of what looked like families. Painted across another wall read 'By each according to his abilities, for each according to his needs' and under that was 'With great power comes great altruism'.

"Quite ignoring me!" said Mandy stomping her foot so the whole house shook. Jessica sat down at the table with a binder and pen in hand.

"I'm not ignoring you, I'm thinking. Ok, so you have all of Mandy's powers?" asked Jessica

"What?" asked Superboy. He was too busy looking at one of the pictures on the wall. It was Mandy, looking younger holding a small baby. Jeremy was behind her with his hand on her swollen belly. It was marked three years ago.

"No, he can't fly. He has super hearing and like fifty different kinds of vision." Said Mandy. Ugh, she hated that picture. Jeremy Jr., had just thrown up on her and she was covering it up with the little monster while Clem laughed and tried to take a picture. She took it but not before Jeremy snuck into the picture.

"Alright, both of you are going to be working in the mill. You can come back when you've reached today's quota." Said Jessica writing something down in the binder, not even paying attention to them. Conner saw a picture of her on the wall too, she was shielding against a blue blur.

"Fine, c'mon Connor." Said Mandy before dragging him off again. She dragged him through the streets and out to a semi new concrete building. On the outside someone had painted 'Mill, where we make the terrible bread everyone hates' and underneath that someone else wrote 'if you don't like it move to Genosha' and underneath that the first person had wrote 'I would if I could' and then after that someone had written 'quite wasting paint'. Connor laughed quietly at that.

"Ok, so this is where we grind the wheat to make the bread. Over in that next building is where the ovens are to actually make the bread. Daniel usually works there, just warning you. He's kind of a prick." Said Mandy

"I noticed." Said Superboy. He was in a simple concrete room with a device which fed wheat into the room down a chute and into a giant sort of basin thing with a long pole sticking out of it. The pole went down to the ground where there was a wheel with long boards coming out of it.

"Here, it's not pretty but it's ours. This is the best one yet. The first couple fell apart and took the building down with it. Well, the building was made of wood then…heh, heh. Anyway, just walk in a circle pushing this thing. When it gets ground enough it'll go down that chute and into the bakery. Cool, huh?" asked Mandy

"Yeah, it's….neat." said Superboy as he followed her to the wheel. What was an almost effortless push for him would have been grueling on whoever else's job it was to do this. How many other strong people did they have?

"You really think so? Jessica found a book about flour grinding so we don't have to do it by hand anymore. Now we just have to figure out how to make better flour." Said Mandy

"Why not just Google it?" asked Superboy

"No computers here, barely any electricity even. We have a lot of books though. Can you believe that human's just throw books away?" asked Mandy

"Wait, so you don't have any computers at all?" asked Superboy. He never really used the computer, except for research on Superman or other things which peaked his interest. Oh, and to watch the funny videos his friends showed him. Still, he missed having the option to use one.

"No, but we have lots and lots of books. Right now we're more worried about food and water. There's a lot of water under the ground and we bring it up. We have wells and stuff. A lot of the pipes are connected to the underground water, we think, and some are connected to the humans, we think. I dunno, figuring this stuff out is Jessica's job." Said Mandy over the roar of the wheel.

"Do you have anything to drink?" asked Connor feeling his thirst now that she mentioned water.

"Yeah, look in that covered bucket over there." Said Mandy. In the corner there was a covered bucket on a table and n that bucket someone had wrote 'Whoever finishes it off fills it up' along with warnings about drinking straight from the well. Next to the bucket was a ladle. He took a swig of water and almost spat it out.

"Don't worry, it's pretty safe. I've never gotten sick from it." Said Mandy which may or may not have been a lie. As long as the water was the right color and didn't have anything floating in it when she didn't mind.

"Thanks." Said Superboy almost wishing he was back at the cave. He'd ask Mandy to fly him back tomorrow. There, he'd be back in a day. He hadn't run away, he had just gone on a little trip. For the rest of the day he ground the wheat into flour unit he and Mandy made that days quota. Then they worked on construction, fixing the damage to the orphanage wall. Then helped repair the road with some black top they had 'liberated'. Then he helped out in the swelteringly hot laundry room carrying vats of boiling water and running clothes through an old mangle. By the time the sun had been hours and hours he was exhausted. He followed Mandy up to the main house and into the room with the big table.

"Here." Said Mandy making him a plate. There was a serving tray full of thick slices of brown bread, some kind of potato meat stew, a plate full of roasted carrots, and an empty milk jug half way full of water. She put a little of everything on a plate for him and then she got some for herself.

"Saved you some butter." Said Jeremy suddenly appearing at the table across from them, a plastic tub of butter in one hand and a butter knife in the other.

"Where did you get this?" asked Mandy snatching it from him like it was going to run away.

"I went for a long run again." Said Jeremy looking a little guilty. Superboy didn't want to talk to the other boy, Jeremy, so he busied himself with his food. He took a bite of the bread and grimaced. It was somehow ruff and mushy, like when M'Gann's cakes didn't bake all the way through. Yup, definitely burnt on the outside. It had a rough texture and an earthy taste to it. This is what all the work went to?

"You know not to." Said Mandy. He raced across the table and sat next to her.

"I ate while I was out." Said Jeremy, lacing his hand with hers.

"Enough?" asked Mandy pushing her plate towards him. He pushed it back.

"Enough. And I got our family something." Said Jeremy

"If Jessica finds out that you're hoarding food-" said Mandy

"No, we have a rule on the books. People can't hoard the food we sell or produce here but if the food came straight from the humans then its fair game." Said Jeremy

"You've been hitting the books?" asked Mandy taking a bite of her bread. Yuck. She'd have to talk to Jessica about putting so many new people in the bakery.

"Yeah, I got up early last night and couldn't get back to sleep." Said Jeremy

"I noticed." Said Mandy, her voice taking on a quality that Superboy had never heard before. He suddenly felt just a little bit uncomfortable.

"Well, I'm goin' to bed. The kids are already asleep but Needs-A-Name is kind of fussy. I left him with June." Said Jeremy

"I'll feed him when I'm done. Did he eat good today?" asked Mandy moving on to her carrots. She'd have to ask Connor if he wanted his bread. It sucked but she was used to it.

"He ate alright. It takes him a while to latch onto Jessica and he doesn't really like eating from her. I think it's because Jessica's, you know…" said Jeremy dancing around the M word. He knew that all nonhumans were welcome in M-Town and they were building a better tomorrow and all that but it still sat weird with him that Mandy and her easily pissed off and super quiet brother were from outer space.

"Yeah, and I'm an alien." Said Mandy

"No, you were born on Earth." Said Superboy without thinking. Mandy gave him a one armed side hug.

"Thanks Conner. Just…thanks." Said Mandy before polishing off the rest of her food. Superboy did the same, missing M'Gann's cooking the entire time.

"You can stay with us." Said Jeremy being diplomatic. He knew this guy didn't like him but he also knew that the telepaths were keeping an eye, err, mind on him. They'd shut him down if he tried to hurt anyone.

"C'mon." said Mandy. She led him up a dimly lit staircase and into a hallway. There were some candles lit with buckets of water next to them. He passes doors with different names on them until he comes to one marked 'Mandy+Jeremy's family'. Jeremy rushed off down the hallway and Mandy put a finger to her lips.

"Don't wake the kids." Said Mandy quietly. She opened the door slowly and entered the room. He followed her in, illuminated by the glow of the large vanilla candle on the dresser. It was a bedroom, smaller than the one he had back at the cave. There was a set of bunk beds with two small boys asleep on the bottom bunk across from a double bed. The walls were covered with peeling floral wallpaper along with children's drawings tacked on the walls. There was a picture on the nightstand next to the bed of a group of kids. A green girl with black hair dressed in an oversized red trench coat, a younger Mandy wearing a superman shirt cut off at the belly and a short blue skirt, a younger Jeremy in a Flash T-shirt and red goggles, and a younger Daniel in a hoodie with the X-Men symbol on it looking very put out.

"That was right before Alkali Lake…Jessica's the one taking the picture and…and June was the only one born yet. God, it feels like a lifetime ago…. It was our first real mission so be careful with that." Said Mandy in his ear. He instantly put it down, not wanting to hurt it.

"Sorry." Said Superboy. They looked like his team, her friends in the picture. They didn't look like the kind of people who would do the things they did.

"It's Ok, just be careful. You, uh, you can sleep up there, on the top bunk. It should be OK, I had Jeremy Jr., change the sheets. There's some water in a jug under the bed if you get thirsty." Said Mandy motioning towards the top bunk. Superboy climbed up gently, careful not to wake the children. Just as he lay down the door creaked open.

"Go to mommy." He heard Jeremy say. He rolled over and cracked an eye opened. Jeremy kicked off his pants and tossed them in the corner before crawling into bed. He took a book of the nightstand. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

"Shh, it's ok. Mommy's here." Said Mandy adjusting the pillow behind her. She pulled up her shirt and he snapped his eyes shut. He was pretty sure that he was not supposed to see his sister's breasts under any circumstances.

"When's Clem coming back." Whispered Jeremy, his voice carrying over the sound of the baby suckling.

"No clue, why?" asked Mandy just as quietly. Superboy knew that it was wrong to eavesdrop but he couldn't help but not hear them. If he wanted quiet he went to his room at the cave. All of the bedrooms had some degree of soundproofing. Here he could hear every creak of the mattress springs, every snore, every sigh, someone playing a child's keyboard in a vaguely familiar toon, someone praying in what sounded like German, someone putting the food away, and someone cursing as their pencil scratched against paper. He didn't expect to get much sleep that night.

"Daniel's getting weird again. You know how she keeps him…" Said Jeremy

"Sane?" said Mandy a little too loudly. The smaller boy in the bunk under him stirred. He heard a stuffed animal hit the floor.

"Normal. He's trying to play that song again." Said Jeremy

"The meow song?" asked Mandy

"No, the one about Dimitri being God." Said Jeremy, his voice dripping with worry. He was the big brother, after all, worry was in the job description.

"Not so loud, I think Connor might still be awake." Said Mandy, an edge of panic in her voice. The less said about the oldest Lehnsherr-Malone child the better.

"He's not, right?" asked Jeremy speaking just a little too quickly.

"No, of course not. Is he sleeping?" asked Mandy changing the subject blatantly.

"Yeah." Said Jeremy running a finger down his son's back. Superboy could hear the baby begin to suckle again.

"He definitely has your power set." Said Mandy, Superboy could hear the warmth in her voice and felt jealous of the baby. Nobody had ever spoken to or about him like that.

"Daddy's little speedster." Said Jeremy with that same warmth. Superboy longed for his father, or whatever Superman was to him, to say something like that. To be proud of him. To acknowledge his existence. That little boy, and the ones asleep under him, would never be ignored by their parents. They would grow up normally surrounded by love and affection. They would never have to resort to kidnapping to get their father's attention. Superboy could feel a bitterness at the back of his throat, and it wasn't from the food.


	9. The Infamous Dinner

A/N: Jeremy and Jessica are not Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, sorry for the confusion.

Superboy wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep that night. Wally had been tossing and turning all night, thinking of everything that could go wrong and Rachel was doing much the same. While Wally worried about messing up and making a fool out of himself Rachel was having doubts about the entire endeavor. She wondered, for the first time seriously, if she was making a big mistake.

Upon further introspection she realized that she had liked Wally in that way for years. He was smart and cute and funny and he was always there for her. When they had first met she was ten, he was twelve, and Roy was fifteen. She liked Wally as a friend then because, well, she just did. Roy was older, cuter, and was always so nice to her. But she felt differently about Wally than she ever had about Roy.

She really, really like Wally because he was smart and cute and funny and nice. She liked being around him, even when he was annoying like when he was all hung up on M'gann. She liked the way he was always so open about everything he was feeling, good and bad. He had never been closed off from her, as Robin or as Rachel.

Because she cared so much about him she was afraid to lose him. She had her doubts about this endeavor. What if he did, somehow, find out the truth? He'd be ad, probably even break up with her. But that wasn't exactly fair, now was it? He was Kid Flash, he had his own double life he led and it wasn't exactly like he was rushing to tell her his big secret. She wanted them to be Rachel and Wally for as long as possible.

She liked them as Rachel and Wally. She liked being able to be open with him. She liked being able to be a girl around him. She especially liked kissing him which she couldn't, ever, do as Robin. Was it wrong of her, to focus so much on what was physically between them? Or did it mean that the relationship was good, because things were so good between them physically? Or was it not good because all they did was kiss? Did she want to do more than kiss? Did he?

Great, now she knew she wasn't going to get any sleep. The train of thought was running express all night. Well, it wasn't extremely late…and in Central City it was even earlier. She could always just text Wally. Just a little, as Robin, to see how he was doing. She got her Robin phone off the charger and decided to just text him a little, until she derailed this train of thought so thoroughly that it was unsalvageable.

" _Hey u up?"_

Wally couldn't sleep. He was worried about every little thing that could go wrong. It felt like it did before he was Kid Flash. Back when he was just Wally the science nerd. He hated feeling unsure of himself. He had no reason to, he was Kid Flash. He fought bad guys and saved people so meeting his girlfriend's dad in no way should have been cause for worry. He was actually a lot less worried, thanks to Uncle Barry. He was going to dress nice, go to her house, be polite, eat food, then go home. He wanted to say 'what could possibly go wrong?' but he knew that would jinx it.

It wasn't just meeting her dad that he was worried about. He had never had a real girlfriend before. He didn't want to mess this up. She liked him and he wanted to keep it that way. He needed to keep it slow with her, in every way. It was difficult, he felt like he had known her for months. He wasn't going to do anything stupid like tell her that he was Kid Flash but there were other stupid things he could do.

Having a girlfriend meant having someone he could connect with physically and emotionally. There were things that he wanted to tell her, not just superhero things, but he knew that it was too soon. He wanted to tell her why he didn't live with his parents, how bad things were before he became Kid Flash, the way he felt running at top speed, the world slowing down around him. He wanted to tell her everything that he had kept hidden. He wanted to but he knew that it was a bad idea.

He was sure that there were things she hadn't told him. He wondered about her parents, what that must have been like. He wondered about her relationship with her adoptive dad. He wondered about her friends, her enemies, what she wanted to do with her life, what she thought of…well just about everything. He wanted to know everything that there was to know about her but he knew that it was too soon to ask.

He wanted to know everything that there was to know about her physically, too, and that scared him. It was one thing to open up emotionally but physically was something he wasn't sure about. He was a semi normal fifteen year old, there were the usual things he thought about. There was plenty he wanted to do, and with her, but he knew that to even approach the subject at this point in their relationship would be suicide.

He almost wanted to ask Uncle Barry about that. The internet was only so helpful but he there were some things that pertained only to him, being a speedster and all. He wanted to know just how fast was too fast and how slow was too slow. He wanted to ask Uncle Barry how he knew when the time was right but that would mean not only acknowledging but also going into the fact that Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris did…stuff. Yeah, he wasn't touching that with a ten foot pole.

He was laying on his side trying to get some sleep when his phone started vibrating. He raced over and got it off the charger. His aunt and uncle would be pissed if they found out he up that late on a school night.

" _Hey u up?"_ Robin was texting him. Wally felt guilty, he had been going to Gotham so many times but only once had he contacted his best friend.

" _No im sleep texting"_ replied Wally laying back down and putting the covers over his head like a fort.

" _Wake up then"_ replied Rachel in much the same position as him. She kept an ear out towards the hallway. Alfred didn't have human needs like sleep but he would feel human enjoyment at taking her phone away for the night.

" _Im up sorry we havnt been haning out lately"_ replied Wally before he kicked himself over how stupid it sounded. Well, in his defense it was really late.

" _Its ok ive been busy"_ replied Rachel. She hadn't really noticed that he was neglecting his relationship with Robin. She was just excited that he was her boyfriend. Besides, he apologized to Robin so that was good, right?

" _Bat stuff?"_ replied Wally. Honestly, Batman was such a slave driver sometimes. He didn't know what he'd do if Uncle Barry ate up that much of his time and dictated that much of his personal life.

" _isn't it always?"_ replied Rachel. That was always a good excuse. Yes, for the rest of her friendship with him she'd just say she was doing Bat-stuff when she had to be Rachel. That way she'd never end up in a situation where she had to pretend to be two different people like in Mrs. Doubtfire…or any other movie where the main character is in disguise.

" _u know that girl I was telling you about?"_ replied Wally. He needed to tell Robin about this, this was the biggest thing to happen to him as far as girls went since Linda Park kissed him behind the big tree after school when he was twelve.

" _Rachel rite?"_ Rachel could feel butterflies in her stomach. She was talking about herself with Wally, as Robin. He wondered what he would have to say about her. Then she was a little worried about what he'd say about her. What if she was doing something wrong girlfriend wise.

" _Yeah she wants me to meet her dad this is so big"_ Wally knew Robin was younger than him, not by much but still younger, so he must not have had much experience with girls. Well, he didn't really expect any advice anyway, he just had to tell his best friend about this new development.

" _is big good?"_ asked Rachel. Was big bad? Was she going to fast? Did he not want to come over at all? She bit her lower lip nervously.

" _im pretty sure this is good I think she wants us to be serious"_ Rachel worried a little. What did serious mean? Did she want to be serious? Was she ready to be serious? Was he ready?

" _Serious?"_ Wally mentally smacked himself upside the head. Of course Robin, who had never had a girlfriend as far as he knew, wouldn't know what serious meant in the context of a relationship. Actually, he wasn't even sure what serious meant in this context.

" _Yeah like im her official long term bf not really sure if anythings going to b different ill c when we get there"_ Rachel released a breath she didn't even know she had been holding. She knew what the things serious couples did and she knew she wanted to do them she just didn't know if she wanted to do them right then, if that made any sense.

"Wally, are you awake?" called his aunt from outside the door. He swore that woman was trained by the same people who trained Batman sometimes.

"I can't sleep." Said Wally

"Then stop texting." Said Aunt Iris in a voice that left absolutely no room for debate. How did she know he was up? He pulled the blanket off his head and fired off one last text to Robin.

" _got to go aunt iris knows im up talk to u later"_ replied Wally. He briefly debated writing that in incomprehensible text speak but thought against it. It was too late for that.

" _nite"_ replied Rachel. It was late and she was finally feeling tired. It felt bad, not talking to Wally anymore, but she felt better knowing that she'd see him…and kiss him…tomorrow.

Rachel got up at six that morning. She was both excited and anxious for the coming events of the day. She would get to see Wally again, which was good, but he was going to meet Bruce, which was not so good. She just decided to take the day one hour at a time. So she got up, showered, styled her Rachel wig, picked out an outfit for later, got into her uniform, and headed off to school. Alfred made small talk on drive to school but she was only half involved in the conversation.

Alfred pulled up to the gates of Gotham Academy and reminded her that Wally was coming over for dinner. As if she could forget. He then made a comment about her growing up so fast. It was touching. She got out of the car, closed the door, and then saw a familiar head of long blonde hair.

Rachel decided to put her ninja skills to good use. She silent walked up to un unknowing Artemis, pulled out her phone, and threw an arm around the other girls' shoulders.

"We are so gonna laugh about this someday." Said Rachel taking a quick picture with a surprised Artemis before running away.

"That's just Rachel, don't worry she's really nice." Rachel heard Bette say. Artemis still looked startled. Rachel giggled at the picture, total der in the headlights look.

"Rachel, what was that all about?" asked Babs looking over her shoulder.

"Just having some fun with the new girl." Said Rachel putting her phone back in her pocket. Barbara rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air.

"You are so impossible some times." Said Babs with false exasperation.

"But that's what you love about me." Said Rachel giving her best Wally smile. Barbara rolled her eyes again. Honestly, any more of that and they'd roll away.

"Well, you're weirdly happy today." Said Babs and they began walking into the prestigious halls of that fine institute of education.

"No, just anxious. Bruce wants to meet my boyfriend." Said Rachel. She left out all the double life stuff and the doubts she was starting to have. It was nice to be able to talk about girl things, though. It was nice.

"That older red haired guy, Wally?" asked Babs. Rachel could hear the worry in her voice. Honestly, just because Wally was older didn't mean that it was weird or anything. She was almost fourteen anyway.

"Yeah, Bruce wants to meet him and it's gonna be all awkward and-ugh!" said Rachel getting a few looks.

"He can't be any worse than my dad. He actually polished his gun the last time I brought a guy home. I mean really? Isn't that a little cliché?" said Babs. Rachel smiled at the thought of Bruce sitting at the dinner table, in full Batman gear, polishing a batarang.

The bell rings and they rush off to their respective classes. Rachel does her best to focus throughout her day. She tries not to worry about what's going to happen later in the day or what could happen. No, instead she worries about her English grade and he mathletes meeting and whether or not she's wearing too much lip gloss. Simple things. Rachel things.

Eventually the school day ended and Rachel made her way home. She felt sad, just a little, that Wally wasn't there to meet her after school. No, he'd probably be by at six on the dot. That wasn't so very far away, just a couple of hours. She'd go home, do some homework, get ready, and try to survive this dinner with her sanity intact. Yes, that was a good plan.

Wally had calmed down considerably since the previous night. He knew what he had to do, in what order to do it in, and how to do it correctly. He'd zeta to Gotham, no point in running in his nice clothes and there was no way he was wearing his Kid Flash costume underneath his clothes. He'd then get Rachel some flowers because girls like flowers, go to her house, not mess up, have dinner, hang out, go home, and fill Robin in on the details. Yes, that was a good plan.

Both Wally and Rachel followed their respective plans with barely a hiccup. Rachel changed into a cute dress, sweater, and knee socks outfit not dissimilar to M'gann's, re-styled her Rachel wig, put on the maximum acceptable amount of makeup, and tried to work on homework. She managed to get her math done before she lost the ability to focus entirely.

It was 5:50, he'd be there soon.

It was 5:55, he'd definitely be there soon.

It was 6:00, where was he?

It was 6:01, should she call?

It was 6:02, he didn't pick up.

It was 6:03, was he lost?

It was 6:05, he wasn't coming! He stood her up! Oh, God!

It was 6:10 when the front door opened.

Wally was lost, very lost. How hard was it to find a house on a hill? He couldn't even find the street she lived on. He was going to be late. He wished he knew what kind of flowers she liked. He wanted to get red roses but that might have been too forward. The yellow ones apparently meant let's be friends. The white ones meant purity. The lilies were pretty but the florist said that they meant death. There was a whole secret langue to flowers he had no idea about. In the end he got her orchids and lavender because they were pretty, the florist recommended them, and they had nothing to do with death. Yeah, his first choice would have been great. You are so pure, I Iove you, let's be friends, and here's a reminder of your inevitable death. Next time he'd bring her an assorted box of chocolates. Yes, as far as he knew there was no secret langue behind chocolates.

Thank God! He found the house. It was the right address, it was up on a hill, and he could fit two of Uncle Barry's house in there and have room to play baseball. There was a tall iron gate around the property, pushing and pulling proved it to be locked. He looked around and one of those boxes like they had in apartment buildings. He pushed the button and prayed that someone answered it.

"Yes?" came a voice which Wally could only describe as proper. He suddenly got the urge to stand up straight and tuck in his shirt again.

"Hi, uh…I'm Wally West?" said Wally timidly. Alfred smiled, he knew full well who this boy was. He decided to have a little fun, like he had when Bruce was young.

"And…?" said Alfred. He could see the boy start to shake on the hidden security camera.

"I'm uh, here to see Rachel?" said Wally hoping that he had the right house. What if he had the wrong house? The wrong neighborhood? He had run more slowly and carefully than normal but there was still a chance that he got disoriented and left Gotham all together.

"And what is your business with Miss Grayson?" asked Alfred. Oh, good on Bruce for letting him have a little fun. He decided to end it soon, though, the boy looked like he was starting to vibrate in place. How he kept a secret identity was beyond Alfred.

"I'm here for…dinner? She told you…right?" asked Wally. Maybe Rachel had forgot to mention this to her butler. This was her butler right? When he thought of Bruce Wayne he didn't think of stuffy proper British men.

"You may enter. Please come up to the front door, Master Wallace." Said Alfred. Wally swore that he heard the man giggling but it must have been his imagination. He stopped moving in place and willed himself to walk up the long winding road at a normal pace. He took in the house, no, the mansion in front of him. She lived there, in that big place all alone except for her dad and butler…and maybe other servants too. Just how many servants did rich people have? Was it like that song from Annie? Which, by the way, he only watched because nothing else was on.

The door swung open the second he stepped foot in front of it. In its place stood an older man with an entirely too amused look on his face. Wally swallowed his nervousness and stuck out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Wally West Rachel's uh…" Said Wally. Did he introduce himself as he boyfriend or did she introduce him as such? Well, should he have because she wasn't around? Where was she, anyway? Was she late? Did she get held up at school? Did she forget?

"Miss Grayson's gentleman caller. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, do come in." said Alfred making a sweeping motion for Wally to follow. Wally entered tentatively. He had never been somewhere so…well…rich.

"Wally!" said Rachel rushing down the hallway. Oh, she knew he'd come. She hadn't doubted him for more than a few minutes and she felt stupid for doing so.

"Miss Grayson, we do not run in the house." Said Alfred. Rachel slowed to a brisk walk instantly. Now was not the time to get on Alfred's nerves.

"Sorry Alfred." Said Rachel standing next to him. She wanted to throw her arms around Wally and pull him close but Alfred was watching and maybe Bruce too. The only rooms that she knew were camera free were her room, Alfred's, and the bathrooms.

"Apology accepted, Miss Greyson. May I present your gentleman caller, Master Wallace." Said Alfred. Rachel would have to tell Alfred when this was all over that he over did the whole posh butler thing just a little bit.

"Um…hey." Said Wally awkwardly shifting his weight from side to side. She was so, so hotdorable dressed like Miss M, not that he was still into her or anything, and he just wanted to take her and hold her and kiss her but he couldn't because they were standing in a hallway with her thousand year old butler.

"Hey." Replied Rachel simply. He looked so cute all dressed up, but what was with that red and yellow tie?

"Dinner will be served within the next ten minutes. Master Bruce will be joining us tonight. I'll just be putting these in water now. Good day." Said Alfred. He needed to inform Bruce of the boy's arrival if he wasn't already aware and finish setting dinner. He'd have to take a proper photo later…they grew up so fast.

"So…you wanna see my room?" asked Rachel saying the first thing that came to mind. Anything to get them out of the hallway.

"Ok!" said Wally nervously and getting an entirely different idea. Rachel grabbed his hand and led him to her room, totally unaware the thoughts running through Wally's head.

"Here it is, room sweet room." Said Rachel pushing the door open reveling her bed with the corner taken up by stuffed animals, her TV with three different consoles attached, her vanity table with its cosmetics newly organized by color and purpose, her bookshelf full to bursting with videogames, and the large Flying Grayson's poster that seemed to dominate the room.

"Whoa." Said Wally taking it all in. Her room was bigger than his, much bigger, and she had all three next gen consoles…and more games than he knew existed…it almost took away the shock of being in a girls' bedroom.

"No flash photography please." Said Rachel closing the door with her foot in an effort to get some privacy. She covertly took a picture of Wally's reaction to her room. They'd laugh about it later.

"Babe, have I ever told you-" said Wally still looking around. He needed to introduce her to Robin, then they could all hang out together in her room and only emerge when every game had been played at least twice.

"That's you drool sometimes? No, but I accept you anyway." Said Rachel before hugging him. He smelled like cologne, lots and lots of cologne.

"I can't believe that this is your room." Said Wally hugging her back. The shock was wearing off now and he was becoming more aware of the fact that he was in her room, she was hugging him, and her door was closed. Did this mean something? Should he ask her?

"I'm sure your room is cool too." Said Rachel burying her face in his chest. His heart was beating so fast it sounded like it was humming. She reached up and put her arms around his shoulders.

"Um…Rachel? Am I your, I mean are we-" said Wally putting resting his hands on her waist.

"What do you mean? I mean, you're my boyfriend, right?" asked Rachel, for a moment being afraid that he didn't see it that way.

"Yeah, I am. I just…uh…never mind." Said Wally leaning down and kissing her. She kissed him back and made that happy sound he absolutely loved.

"Never mind what?" asked Rachel when they broke apart. Out of all the guys she'd kissed before him, two, he was the best. Maybe because she liked him better than all the others…and he was older too.

"I mean, uh…we're in your room...and stuff." Said Wally. His higher thinking skills were all going on a coffee break at the same time. He meant to ask her if they were serious and what that entailed.

"Oh, um, you wanna sit down?" asked Rachel motioning towards the bed. Her face betrayed only a little of her nervousness.

"Ok." Said Wally sitting next to her on the bed. A unicorn plushie stared at him, or maybe he stared at it. Ok, this was new. He was on a girls' bed in her room all alone with the door closed. He was excited and nervous and scared and happy at the same time. She looked very calm, though.

"Can I, uh…can I kiss you?" asked Rachel. She felt like they were past asking but it seemed right then.

"Ok." Said Wally wondering why she was asking before remembering just how little they had been going out together. To him it felt like much longer and he kicked himself, relative time sucked.

"Ok." Said Rachel. She leaned in and kissed him, slowly and sweetly. Without thinking he pulled her closer to him, deepening the kiss. One of her hands was in his hair and the other was on his chest. He had a hand on her waist and one hand traveling up her back. He wanted to feel her hair for reasons he'd contemplate later. For now it just looked so soft and it felt so good when she did it to him. Her wig was on pretty securely but him running his fingers through it didn't exactly help. She grabbed his hand and moved it down to her shoulder. The last thing she wanted to explain was why her hair was so short.

"Rachel." Said Wally between kisses because it just felt so right to say her name. She was perfect. This was perfect…and why was she moving his hand there. Did she want him to…?

"Wally." Said Rachel because saying his name felt right. Besides, people usually said each other's names when they made out, unless TV had lied to her all these years. She liked kissing him like this, it was like in the park only less public and there were no leaves in her wig. She was getting into the rhythm of it when his hand started to push her sweater off her shoulders. Too fast? Too slow? Did she want to? She kind of did, kind of really did, but was that just the moment talking? Did this mean that they were going to…that he was going to…ugh! So complicated!

"Is this ok?" asked Wally. He really, really, really wanted this to be OK but if it wasn't that was ok too because he wasn't a creep or anything he just really, really wanted this to be alright because of hormones and deeper explanations that he'd think about later oh please let this be ok.

"Uh-huh." Said Rachel because after lengthy internal debate she decided that this was ok but after a certain point it would stop being ok and then she'd stop him because then it wouldn't be ok anymore…if that made any sense and oh! His hand was on her belly button and she was ticklish there.

"Ticklish?" asked Wally hoping that was the case and that she wasn't laughing at him.

"A little." Said Rachel, his hand still just a little above her belly button. This was Ok.

"Your stomach is really, uh, hard." Said Wally tracing little patterns in it. He had noticed that before, she had a lot of muscle compared to anyone, boy or girl. He kind of liked it.

"I'm a gymnast, remember." Said Rachel his hand was moving up a little now. It was still Ok. She wasn't sure at which point it would stop being OK but she'd stop him when it got to that point. Still Ok, still ok…

"Diner is served and for future reference this door is to remain opened when guests are present." Said Alfred in a disapproving tone. Wally snatched his hand away looking like he had been caught in the cookie jar.

"Alright Alfred." Said Rachel, her face so red that no amount of foundation could disguise it. They heard Alfred's footsteps down the hall and let out a breath they both didn't realize that they had been holding.

"Wow, that was…um…nice." Said Rachel fixing her clothes. She got up and went to her full length mirror. Hmm, she'd need more gloss.

"Up until your butler showed up." Said Wally staring at her stuffed animals until he calmed down. She had a lot of unicorns. Why did girls like horses and horse-based mythical animals so much? Yeah, that was a good train of thought to stay on.

"Yeah, Bruce and I are probably gonna have one of those long and awkward ice cream talks." Said Rachel, substituting Batmobile for ice cream.

"Uncle Barry just sits on my bed and rambles a lot." Said Wally

"C'mon, let's eat." Said Rachel satisfied that no trace of what she had been up to was visible. Her wig was fixed, her lips re-glossed, and he outfit straightened out.

"Thank god, food." Said Wally. His stomach was starting to make its presence known. Still, he'd rather go an entire day without eating then face his girlfriend's dad, and especially not after he had just rounded first with her.

"You haven't lived until you've had Alfred's cooking." Said Rachel. She led him down the dimly lit hallway to the dining room. Wally had been imagining a long table completely covered with food like a medieval feast but instead there was a serving tray with some bloody meat on it, a gravy boat with some kind of sauce in it, a serving bowl with what looked like sautéed spinach, and a pitcher of water. Great. He had gone through the trouble of learning the different forks for nothing. He had been so engrossed in the food that he didn't notice the massive, stony faced man sitting at the head of the table.

"Bruce, this is Wally West. Wally, this is my adoptive father, Bruce." Said Rachel with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Said Wally going over to Bruce and sticking his hand out. Dad's liked that polite stuff, right?

"Likewise." Said Bruce in a tone that struck fear into the hearts of men. He was not a fan of this boy, and less so for the fact that he had just spent exactly thirteen minutes in his daughter's bedroom. The boy would live, for Barry's sake, but just barely.

"Let's eat!" said Rachel shooting Bruce a look. He could have made some effort to look friendly. It wasn't like Wally was wrong for her or anything.

"I'm starving!" said Wally, his voice going up an octave. This guy could give Batman a run for his money. He wondered if that was just a dad thing, to automatically hate the guy your daughter was going out with.

"Master Wallace, over there please." Said Alfred seemingly materializing out of nowhere. Wally wondered for a moment if that guy was a meta. Wally sat down on the left side of Bruce, Rachel across the table from him at the right side. He thanked God that Alfred gave him a big portion of the meat, sauce, and vegetables. No as big as Bruce's portion, of course. Rachel crossed her fingers and hoped that this went well.

"So, Wally, do you go Gotham Academy too?" asked Bruce as he took a sip of something which Wally suspected was alcoholic and had plenty of ice.

"No, I go to Central City High." Said Wally before mentally kicking himself. Rachel looked busy with her food but inside she was mentally kicking Wally for not working out a good story yet.

"Then why are you here in Gotham in the middle of the school week?" asked Bruce

"I'm here with my uncle, he had some business in Gotham and he took me along." Said Wally happy about how sure that sounded. Not too many details, not too few, like Robin always said.

"What kind of business?" asked Bruce. Rachel wished that he would lay off Wally. They both knew who he was so there was no need to torture him.

"I'm not sure exactly, it's complicated." Said Wally hoping that answer would satisfy the terrifying man. Sure, when the cameras were around he was a fun billionaire playboy, not a terrifying dad who looked like he wanted to hunt Wally for sport.

"How did you two meet?" asked Bruce taking another sip of what Rachel was certainly not alcohol.

"I was exploring the city and I ran into her." Said Wally keeping it as simple as possible. He made a mental note to ask what the name of this sauce was called. Maybe Aunt Iris could make it and put it on everything.

"Your uncle lets you just wander around a strange city unescorted?" asked Bruce having way too much fun with this.

"Yes?" said Wally bouncing his feet up and down out of nervousness. He wished Uncle Barry had given him some pointers on how to handle dads besides be polite.

"How are your grades?" asked Bruce. Wally calmed down, thankful for the change of topic.

"Mostly A's with some B's." said Wally confidently

"Why not straight A's?" asked Bruce a little too much like he was interrogating a criminal.

"I'm not that good at English." Said Wally. It was true. English didn't really appeal to him.

"You speak English." Said Bruce. Rachel began to laugh.

"That's so funny." Said Rachel laughing. Wally let out a shaky laugh.

"So you think I'm funny?" said Bruce turning his attention back to Wally. Wally wondered what he did in his life to deserve this.

"No! I mean yes! I mean, if you're trying to be, sir." Said Wally eating quickly out of nervousness, even the spinach which he normally wasn't a big fan of. He hoped beyond hope that he hadn't screwed up royally and wasn't about to be thrown out and forbidden from seeing Rachel again.

"What are your intentions with my daughter?" asked Bruce in near full bat-mode. Wally almost swallowed his fork in shock and Rachel began to give him her best Rachel glare, once again curing her lack of something destructive vision.

"Um…to go out with her?" said Wally wondered what, exactly, Bruce had meant by 'intentions'. Rachel did a mental face palm. What, did Bruce just Google 'cliché father statements'?

"Which entails what exactly?" asked Bruce knowing that he would have to apologize to Barry later for tormenting his nephew.

"Um…taking her places….treating her nice…making her happy." Said Wally, proud that he didn't blurt out something stupid like 'making out with her'. Great, now he couldn't stop thinking about it. How did a girl as nice as Rachel have a dad as scary as him.

"Do you see this as a long term commitment?" asked Bruce. Alright, time to pull out all the stops. He'd make up his apology letters later.

"Yes, definitely." Said Wally. That was a good answer, right? It was the truth after all. Wasn't honesty the best policy and all that?

"How many other girlfriends have you had?" asked Bruce. Now it was Rachel's turn to choke. She did not want to know this, not at all. The thought of Wally seeing other girls, even before her, made her want to go ten rounds with Black Canary.

"None." Said Wally which was true. He had never had a real girlfriend before and he suspected that if he made her dad any madder he'd never have any again.

"Physical partners?" asked Bruce. Rachel almost spat water across the table, but succeeded in making it go down the wrong pipe. Now they were deep into way, way, way too personal territory.

"None!" said Wally, what Rachel's dad had just asked sinking in. His face was as red as his hair and he was out of food to nervously eat.

"Have you had all of your vaccinations?" asked Bruce switching to a more neutral topic for the sake of the boy's health.

"Yes." Said Wally, wishing that he could vibrate his molecules through the floor.

"Criminal record?" asked Bruce making a mental note to take a still of the boy's face and show it to Barry later. Rachel was more worried than amused, she wasn't sure if it was healthy for a person to be that color.

"No!" said Wally. Rachel gave Bruce her best 'knock it off right now' look. What did he have against Wally, anyway? Or was it just a dad thing to hate any guy she liked. He hadn't liked Speedy much back when she had a thing for him.

"You have noticed that the grounds are quite extensive?" said Bruce turning his gaze out the window contemplatively.

"Yes…?" asked Wally wondering if, yes, Bruce was going to hunt him for sport.

"You also noticed that we are very far from any other people?" asked Bruce swirling his root beer, the ice cubes clinking against the glass.

"Um…yes?" said Wally wondering if it would be wiser to run at human speed until he was out of sight or make a break for it at meta speed.

"Do you think that anyone would hear you scream?" said Bruce giving Wally a long look full of creepy eye contact.

"What?" asked Wally quietly. Oh God Bruce was going to kill him and they'd never find his body and it'd be like in that movie with the guy and the chainsaw but not Texas Chainsaw Massacre but that other one he saw when he was little and it freaked him out and the guy wore people's skin and oh God he was gonna die and end up being made into a skin suit.

"If you do anything at all to hurt my daughter I will end you and nobody will ever know what happened. Do you understand?" said Bruce wondering if he had taken this the one step too far.

"Yes sir." Said Wally quietly. He mentally prayed to Batman to come and save him. Rachel's foot over his brought him out of his panic.

"Good. I'm glad we understand each other. Now, would you like some dessert?" said Bruce, much more cheery at the end. By now Rachel was glaring daggers at him and Wally felt like he was going to wet himself.

"What?" asked Wally still focused on the whole death threat he just got. Sure, villains made death threats all the time but somehow it was scarier coming from this perfectly normal human man.

"Dessert. I think Alfred made a pie." Said Bruce. He had put the kid through the wringer and learned that Barry had never taught him to create a cover story, it was very difficult to push him to the edge, and he ate his vegetables. As far as boys went if he hadn't known Rachel as Robin and himself been Kid Flash Bruce would have whole heartedly approved…well as wholeheartedly as he could.

"Yes please." Said Wally perking up at the mention of pie. Dessert Bruce was much nicer than dinner Bruce. Maybe he was just one of those people that got really cranky when he was hungry? Rachel kept playing footsie with him under the table to that was nice and the pie was amazing. Apple was definitely his new favorite.

He and Rachel went back to her room and hung out with the door open and Alfred passing by every few minutes. They played videogames together until it started to get late. He started to get ready to leave and almost made it to the door before Alfred stopped him.

"Leaving, Master Wallace?" asked Alfred. Rachel did a little annoyed dance in her head. Everyone knew that he was Kid Flash, so there was no need to torture him like this. They all agreed that his cover sucked and Alfred didn't need to poke any more holes in it. Bruce had already turned it to Swiss cheese.

"Yeah, it's getting kind of late." Said Wally hoping that the butler wouldn't ask him who was picking him up or worse, offer him a ride.

"I'd be happy to, as they say, give you a lift home." Said Alfred smiling at the faces Rachel was making at him.

"No, that's ok. You don't have to go through that much trouble. I'll just, uh…take the bus." Said Wally hoping that would be the end of it.

"It's no trouble at all. I'm sure your uncle wouldn't appreciate it if we let you take a bus through Gotham at this hour." Said Alfred. Wally wondered why the universe tormented him before he had an idea.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot. My uncle told me to call him when I was done so he could pick me up. I'll just do that now." Said Wally

"Very well then." Said Alfred before going back to performing his many duties. One day they were going to look back at this and laugh.

"Hey, I can meet your uncle now. I bet he's nicer than Bruce." Said Rachel giving him a quick peck. He looked like he needed it. She wondered if he had told his uncle who, exactly, she was and also that she lived all the way out in Gotham.

"Yeah, great…" said Wally wondering how he was going to explain the fact that he was going out with a rich girl who lived all the way in Gotham in a house so big and so far away from civilization that nobody would hear him scream.

"It'll be Ok." Said Rachel giving his hand a squeeze. Wally took his phone from his pocket and walked down the hallway for a little privacy. His thumb hovered over the picture of Uncle Barry before he pressed it and then the call button. The ringing of the phone taunted him.

Meanwhile back in Central City Barry Allen was enjoying a quiet night with his wife. The Rouges had all apparently decided to take some time off, even the Trickster who was back in his meds, Wally was out of the house, and Iris was home. He was enjoying some alone time with the most wonderful woman in the world when his phone began to ring.

"Just let it go to voicemail." Said Iris, her arms around her husband. They so rarely got a quiet night and the house to themselves at the same time.

"That's Wally's ring." Said Barry sitting up and getting his phone from his pocket. He hopes that Wally was alright and that Bruce hadn't threatened to kill him. He answered it and his nephew's nervous breathing met him on the other end of the line.

"Uncle Barry, can I ask you for a favor?" asked Wally nervously. He should have thought of a better story or at least found out where Robin lived so he could have been dropped off there.

"What kind of favor?" asked Barry worriedly. Nothing good usually followed that sentence.

"Can you pick me up from my girlfriend's house, her butler won't let me leave on my own." Said Wally. Iris sat straight up I shock and mouthed the words 'her butler?' in disbelief. Where had Wally met a girl with an actual butler?

"Alright, where's she live?" asked Barry already knowing the answer. Great. He was going to have to run all the way up to Gotham because Bruce was being, well, Bruce.

"In Gotham, I'll text you the address. Oh, and can you bring me a change of clothes?" said Wally with special emphasis on the 'change of clothes' part. Barry looked to the ceiling for strength. He was going to have to once again show Wally how to get his suit in and out of the ring.

"Alright, I'll be right there." Said Barry before hanging up.

"Wally's girlfriend lives in Gotham? And has a butler?" sputtered Iris in disbelief. How…? When…? Barry shook his head.

"I'll tell you what I can after I go get Wally. Back in a flash." Said Barry before changing into his suit and zipping out of the house faster than the human eye could see. He'd have to have words with both Bruce and Wally later on. All sorts of words.


	10. Welcome Back, Superboy

Superboy had barely gotten any sleep that night. By the time he closed his eyes and drifted off the other occupants of the room started their day just as the first of the sunlight began to peak through the windows.

"Who's that and why's he in our bed?" said the younger boy, William. Superboy hadn't met him yet.

"That's Uncle Conner, from Metropolis. Dad says he on vacation." Said the other boy, Jeremy Jr., who Superboy had met briefly but not officially.

"What's vacation?' asked the younger boy. Conner cracked an eye opened. The older boy was helping the younger one into a pair of overalls. The baby was awake and sitting up, staring right at them. Both parents were still asleep.

"It's when you go from where to live to stay at a different place." Said Jeremy Jr. now getting his little brother into a pair of worn sneakers.

"'Cause of the humans?" asked William as Jeremy Jr. tied his shoes. Conner could see the bumps of both boy's spines. Conner thought that they were much too skinny, but then again he didn't know much about kids.

"Probably." Said Jeremy Jr. digging under his bed and pulling out an Avenger's T-shirt. The baby began to attempt to crawl off the bed.

"No, bad baby!" said Jeremy Jr., rushing over to the bed at an unhuman speed, slamming into it.

"What the hell'?!" said Jeremy shooting straight up, startling the baby. Superboy grimaced at the piercing wail that somehow came out of that little person.

"Sorry dad." Said Jeremy Jr., holding on to his youngest sibling who had gone from a cry to a whimper as his older brother bounced him up and down. William was now attempting to climb the bunk bed latter.

"That's alright. William, hey, leave you Uncle alone." Said Jeremy stretching. Being next to each other Conner could see the similarities between father and son. Same eye shape, same ears, similar hair color though the son's was lighter than his father's. He had Mandy's eyes, mouth, and he could see some of her in his face.

"The sky's awake, dad, so we have to be awake." Said William. Mandy groaned and pulled her pillow over her head.

"Why do they keep showing that stupid movie?" groaned Mandy with the pillow over her face.

"Because it's the only positive portrayal of a mutant ever put in a kid's movie!" said the invisible girl, Jessica, across the hall. Superboy widened his hearing rang. The rooms around him were full of people waking up. A baby was crying down the hall. Someone was frying meat outside. Two children were fighting over a pair of socks.

"Shut up! I'm trying to sleep!" called a voice from down the hall, the fire starter. What was his name? Daniel.

"The sky's awake, so I'm awake!" said Jeremy before getting up and shrugging his pants on. Superboy decided that it was a good time to wake up.

"Hey, you, wake up! We gotta work!" said William. He had made his way up the ladder and into the top bunk and was currently poking Superboy in the eye.

"I'm up, I'm up." Said Superboy sitting up. The younger boy gave a shrieking laugh and jumped from the top bunk. Before he hit the ground his father caught him, wind filling the room.

"One day I won't be there, and then what?" asked Jeremy putting his son down.

"Mommy'll catch me." Said William with as much smugness as a three year old could muster.

"Mommy's busy." Said Mandy, once again getting ready to feed baby Need's-A-Name. Superboy averted his eyes, that being his sister and all. There was a frantic knock at the door.

"Jeremy Jr., William, we got school today. New movie! C'mon!" said a child, a girl Superboy decided. He had mostly heard children and babies in his time there.

"Yay! School time!" said William running out the door, his footsteps thumping down the hall. Jeremy Jr., was gone in a blur, leaving the adults and baby alone in the room. The sucking of the baby filling the silence left by the children.

"Sorry about them, they're just excited…excited little monsters." Said Jeremy getting on his knees and looking for his shoes. The baby finished suckling and was now attempting to pull Mandy's hair out.

"It…it's OK." Said Superboy before climbing down from the top bunk. He felt…conflicted…if that was the right word. He never had that, with anyone. He was never a child. He had never fallen and had his father catch him. He had never had a father to begin with.

"So, you got any kids?" asked Jeremy rocking on his heels.

"No." said Superboy. He didn't have any but now he sort of wanted some. He wanted to have a smaller version of himself, a half clone, to take care of.

"Don't worry man, plenty of chicks on the farm. Even more since I'm taken." Said Jeremy. Mandy rolled her eyes. Some things never changed no matter how old they got.

"You're not crazy and you're not a kid. That's big here. You'll do fine." Said Mandy getting out of bed. She began to root through her bedside drawer for her brush.

"I can't stay." Said Superboy. Mandy shut the door with a little more force than necessary.

"Why not? It's great here." Said Jeremy before taking a swig of slightly cloudy water from a milk jug. Superboy had a million reasons for why he couldn't stay but he stuck with the big one.

"We got food, water, and the humans have mostly learned to leave us alone. If you can put up with Jessica it's awesome." Said Mandy

"My team, my friends, need me." Said Superboy. They really did, he thought. They were his friends and his family. But she, her children, and he husband were his family too. Weren't they? This was becoming complicated.

"Alright, I'll take you back as soon-" said Jeremy before Mandy cut him. He huffed and gave her a semi-serious glare.

"I'll take you back as soon as I can. Jessica's still really, really pissed at me for a lot of stuff." Said Mandy seeing her brother tense up. Jessica would be even more pissed off at her if her brother brought the house down over their heads.

"I'm faster." Said Jeremy. Mandy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but I'm stronger. You can't carry him. What are you gonna do? Pull him in the little red wagon?" Said Mandy

"Well, I am taking it to get supplies…" muttered Jeremy

"Hey, I got this." Said Mandy putting her hand on his arm. Superboy was reminded of M'gann, the way that with a few words she could make everything right.

"Don't you always?" said Jeremy before running off, the house shaking as he went.

"Ugh!" said Mandy throwing her hands in the air.

"Is he…?" asked Superboy

"He'll be fine, he always is. Anyway, let's get some breakfast then we'll do some work then I'll sneak you home. C'mon!" said Mandy, hovering in the air and then flying out the door. Superboy balled his fists and punched a noticeable dent in the wall. Why did she get everything?! She could fly, she had a family that loved her, and she was Superman's actual daughter. He wanted to make her, even if he didn't want her now. But he didn't want her either, did he? He felt the anger leave him.

"You gotta eat otherwise you'll die." Said a small voice. Superboy turned around was faced with a small child, a little girl with green skin, dark hair, and blue eyes wearing an oversized overall dress.

"What?" asked Superboy, he felt himself get angry again but as quick as it came it left.

"If you don't have any food you die and the humans win. That's what my mom and dad say, anyways." Said the girl looking up at him, her eyes slightly out of focus.

"Fine. Downstairs then?" said Superboy. He felt like something was trying to worm its way into his thoughts. It wasn't like when M'gann entered his mind. No, her touch was warm and gentle. He assumed that it was this little girl trying to invade his mind.

"Yeah, I'll show you." Said the girl motioning for him to follow. He walked next to her. She was little, did she even know what she was doing?

"Thanks." Said Superboy tensely. He could feel the girl still trying to worm her way in.

"Are you Superman? 'Cause that's what Jeremy Jr.'s tellin' everybody." Said the little girl. Superboy shook his head.

"No." said Superboy

"Yeah, Aunt Jessica said that you were Mandy's brother and you can't be Mandy's brother and her dad at the same time because my dad says that that's call incest and it's wrong and you're a good guy even if you do help the humans. I'm Amelia Lehnsherr, by the way." Said the girl. Now the worming feeling was getting worse.

"Get out of my head!" yelled Superboy. The girl, Amelia, gave a frightened squeak and ran down the hall. Superboy felt terrible.

"Bravo, you scared my daughter. Wanna kick my puppy next?" drawled a voice from behind him. The fire starter. Daniel.

"What do you want?" asked Superboy with barely contained anger. He wanted to pick him up and throw him through a wall. He hurt M'gann. He could have killed her and he'd killed others before. They all had.

"That's it, get pissed off. Get so pissed off that you smash everything, like a less cool Hulk. Wreck everything, go on, do it." Said Daniel getting much too close for comfort.

"No, I won't. The rest of them haven't done anything." Said Superboy. He was a good guy, he wasn't a weapon.

"Please, you don't know what we've done to survive, or what we'll do. I know you hate me, for hurting that girl. As if I would hurt one of my brothers and sisters." Said Daniel

"Stay the hell away from me." Said Superboy angrily. Daniel just rolled his eyes.

"That's rich, coming from you." Said Daniel, the air around them growing warmer.

"What's your problem?" snarled Superboy

"You. My problem is you. Mandy's third in command, under Jessica and Clem. Clementine usually just gives Jessica command anyway and sometimes Jessica let's Mandy be in charge. After Mandy comes Jeremy. Don't think I'm not on to you." Said Daniel. Superboy let out a shuddery breath.

"I've been extremely patient, for me, now tell me what the hell you're going on about!" said Superboy grabbing the smaller boy. He could feel his hand heating up where he made contact with Daniel's arm. Daniel smirked at him.

"Please. You work with the human heroes and we attacked your ally, Superman, and by extension your faction. I was against that, by the way, but Mandy gets weird when she's pregnant. Anyway, obviously you guys want to infiltrate us and get revenge." Said Daniel

"What?" deadpanned Superboy. The last thing on the League's mind was revenge on a bunch of kids. Even if the League did do something like that, they wouldn't, but if they did Superboy would have no part in it. This was place was mostly kids and babies. It wouldn't make any sense to punish them for the actions of a few.

"We can take you guys, we took the Avengers and the humans know not to mess with us. Leave us alone or you'll see what we're capable of." Said Daniel

"Your group killed people. Your group still kills people." Said Superboy

"We needed to liberate our mutant brothers and sisters. Mandy told me that you're a clone. You think you're the only one? The humans have been making weapons out of us for years. Clementine was a weapon. The guy Xavier works with, Badger, he's a weapon, and so are you. You defend the humans who kidnap, kill, and butcher us and now you're trying to come in and probably cripple us from the inside just like they tried to cripple Genosha." Said Daniel practically spitting the words out at the end. Superboy gave him a long look, internally debating what to do next.

"I'm not here to hurt this place. Have your daughter read my mind, I'm really not. I just…I just wanted to see my family. That's all." Said Superboy choosing his words carefully. Things were easier on the team. He showed up, did some reckon, beat up the bad guys, and went home. This guy, he was one of the bad guys, wasn't he?

"Leave him alone, Daniel, if he was a threat I'd have done something by now." Said Jessica walking down the hallway with two small girls in tow.

"You're not a telepath." Said Daniel as his sister walked past him.

"No, but we have a lot of them. Go be paranoid somewhere else." Said Jessica as she and her daughters turned the corner and went down the rickety stairs.

"If you do anything, anything at all to hurt us, I'll have my wife reduce your brain to nothing." Said Daniel before letting out a burst of heat that made Superboy let him go. He walked past Superboy, slmming his shoulder into him, and his daughter scurried down the hall to meet him. Superboy stood there, trying to process everything that had transpired.

"Hey, Conner. C'mon, I know the food sucks but everybody needs to eat…well not that plant guy but everybody else does." Said Mandy flying up to him

"Ok." Said Superboy. She grabbed his hand and practically dragged him down the stairs, still flying. She noticed the look he was giving her and started to walk.

"Sorry, I'm just in kind of a flying mood." Said Mandy as they walked down the stairs. As they got to the ground floor they were met by a dull roar.

"Uncle Conner, we saved you food!" called Jeremy Jr.

"C'mon, the hot mush only sucks a little." Said Mandy giving him a nudge. He walked over to where he family was seated at the big table. Jeremy took the baby off a seat and motioned for Superboy to sit down. He almost sat down there before letting Mandy sit next to her husband. He sat between the kids, Jeremy Jr. finished and William making eating his food with his hands.

"This is for you." Said William pushing a plate with the same bread as yesterday along with a bowl of what looked like oatmeal.

"The lumps are turnips, you gotta eat them if you wanna grow up." Said Jeremy Jr putting a spoon in his hand.

"He's already a grown up." Said Jeremy Jr. with all the authority he could muster. Superboy wasn't really paying attention. He was looking across the table, at Daniel. He was spooning food into a small green toddler's mouth. This child had black hair and amber eyes, and they were currently focused on him.

"Not all the way." Said Mandy. Superboy turned his attention towards his sister, noting the hand on her stomach.

"Are you pregnant?" asked Superboy. Mandy looked up at him, her eyes as wide as possible. Jeremy began to choke on his water. People were starting to stare.

"Not sure. Why, can you see through my skin or something?" Said Mandy attempting to be nonchalant. Baby Needs-A-Name began to pull on his mother's hair while his father began to vibrate in place out of worry.

"Daniel said you were." Said Superboy. Jeremy and Mandy turned to Daniel, who pretending not to notice the trouble happening just down the way.

"How the hell do you know if I'm pregnant or not?" asked Mandy, her mind conjuring up kinds of super creepy scenarios.

"You always get all 'who am I, why am I here?' when you're preggers. Remember when you were pregnant with Needs-A-Name and you stole one of Wonder Woman's hairs and had Xavier's people run a DNA test? Or before when you were pregnant for the first time and Xavier rad your brainwaves or whatever with cerebro to see if you were a mutant or a meta?" said Daniel in that same 'Do something, I dare you' drawl.

"Daniel, quite being a weird dick." Said Jeremy in a warning tone.

"Or what?" asked Daniel.

"Both of you, go have your pissing contest outside and then get to work. Everyone else, don't you people have things to do?" said Jessica in a tone which left no room for debate.

"Yeah, finish up and get back to work or the humans'll get you." Said Jessica's oldest daughter. Superboy wondered if he had said something wrong. He just wanted to know if she was having another baby because, well, he wanted to know. He knew about pregnancy on a theoretical level. He knew how women got pregnant and what happened when a baby grew and was born but it was entirely different to have it staring him in the face. He wondered what it was like, not only something he knew he would never experience like being pregnant but also things he could like seeing his child being born and raising it. He looked around at the families around him. Yes, that was something he wanted.

"Come to school with us!" said Jeremy Jr pulling him from the table. He was about to mention his leftovers but found that they were gone. He allowed himself to be pulled away from the table and out of the house. Jeremy had zipped off somewhere and Mandy was following them with her baby in her arms. The children chattered endlessly about their new brother and what powers he could have. Mandy just bit her nails.

"Mom, come to school with us too." Said William, pulling on his mother's arm. The jostling upset his younger brother who didn't hesitate to make his unhappiness known.

"No, I think I'll take Uncle Conner home soon, after I leave Needs-A-Name in the baby house." Said Mandy sounding a million miles away.

"Don't give him away! We like him!" cried William attempting to pull his brother from his mother's arms.

"No, I'll just leave him there while I work. I would never give any of you away." Said Mandy. Superboy felt another twinge of jealousy but once again as quick as it came it left. The ringing of a hand bell cut through the air.

"Come on, school time!" said Jeremy Jr. zipping over to his brother. Both boys ran at human speed to a concrete building with the word 'school' painted on it. Other small children rushed inside, their voices heard over the hum of a generator.

"I'll just drop him off, then I'll come back for you, alright?" said Mandy

"But what about work?" asked Superboy

"Me and Jeremy need a little time apart right now." Said Mandy

"Did I do something wrong?" asked Superboy worried for his sister. He didn't want to go burning bridges with the only biological family he had that actually wanted to have a relationship with him.

"No…well…no, I should have told Jeremy…or we should have been more careful. Never mind, we'll manage. Always have and always will." Said Mandy before kicking off and flying away, the baby still fussing in her arms.

"I'm sorry." Said Superboy wondering if she could hear him. Without anything else to do he entered the makeshift school house. There were old carpets on the floor, a chalkboard took up the front wall, the remaining walls were covered in book shelves. As each child entered they took a small chalk board and a piece of chalk from the pile on the shelf by the door. Superboy took one as well as joined his nephews, who were frantically motioning for him to sit down next to them. He awkwardly crossed his legs and sat next to them. His attention was drawn to the front of the room to a blue skinned girl about his age who entered the room and wheeled an old TV over from a corner.

"Hey everybody, mornin'" said the girl

"Good morning Miss Sapphire." Said the children around him. The girl…woman…smiled and pointed to Superboy

"You're new. Let me guess…shape shifter?" she asked. Superboy shook his head no.

"Well you're not a psi, otherwise you'd be at the other school. Hmm…let me guess…you can age up and down at will?" she asked. Jeremy Jr., and William began to wave their hands rapidly in the air.

"Yes…William." She said pointing to William. He beamed and Jeremy Jr. stuck out his tongue.

"He's our Uncle Conner! He's just visiting, Mommy's gonna take him home soon but he came to school with us! Oh, and our Mommy's having a baby." Said William

"Oh…" said the girl, trying to process this. Superboy suddenly felt self-conscious as the eyes of the entire class fell on him.

"Yeah, and he has super strength and super vision and super hearing and he doesn't like the bread." Finished Jeremy Jr.

"Nobody likes the bread." Called s voice from across the room.

"I like the bread." Called another voice

"Well nobody likes you!" called the first voice before pandemonium broke out. The teacher waved her hands and a burst of color appeared above their heads before exploding in a shower of sparkles.

"Now that we've got that out of our systems let's all give Conner a nice M-Town welcome." Said the teacher

"Welcome brother!" Said the class in unison

"Ok, now I know that there have been rumors going around that we have a new movie and those rumors are true! Yesterday the scavenging team liberated boxes and boxes of tapes that the humans just threw away. Little do they know that we're going to be learning from them." Said the teacher, her voice rising above cries from the children.

"Everybody, what do we say?" said the teacher

"Waste not, want not!" Said the class once again in unison

"Exactly, which is why we don't complain about the bread. The bread is good for us. Who gives us the bread, children?" asked the teacher

"The Earth!" said the class with enthusiasm.

"Yes, and who makes the bread?" asked the teacher

"Our brothers and sisters!" cried the class

"Very good. And how do they make the bread?" asked the teacher

"With their powers!" cried the class

"Exactly. Now, I know some of you have your powers already and some of you don't but that's alright. When you get your powers what will you do?" asked the teacher

"Use them to help!" said the class

"Why?" asked the teacher

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need!" cried the children in unison. Superboy kept quiet, he didn't know what to say. This wasn't like the schools he saw on TV or what he knew about school from the genomorphs. Actually, this entire place was very different from anything he had ever known. He'd have to tell the team about this, maybe they could help.

"What does that mean?" asked the teacher breaking Superboy from his thoughts.

"Use your powers to help!" said the class

"Exactly. Now, who wants to watch a movie?" asked the teacher. She was met with a chorus of 'I do! I do!'

"Well here you go then, my bright, bright class." Said the teacher. She turned the TV and VCR on and then hit play. There was a grinding sort of noise before some distorted music started playing. A picture came onto the screen, slightly distorted at the top. The children watched with rapt attention. Somehow the blinds closed on their own.

"Isn't TV great?" Whispered Jeremy Jr. as he stared at the screen. Superboy nodded. It was an old education video, apparently about pictures and words if the title was anything to go off of. Now they were talking about skeletons and skulls. The children stared, the teacher wrote something on the board. Superboy missed being back at the cave, watching static to concentrate while M'gann made cookies. What would she be up to now? She's probably be trying a new recipe or studying Earth culture. Would the others be there? If Wally was there he'd make some bad joke and Robin would laugh. Artemis would tell him how dub he was and Kaldur would try and keep order. He missed his friends. He missed his home.

Before the movie was over Mandy showed up for him. She insisted upon carrying him bridal style and flew him to Happy Harbor. She didn't say much so neither did he, following her lead. She flew him there quickly, Superboy tried to keep the bitterness down. She could fly and she was only half Kryptonian. He was Superman's clone and he couldn't. It wasn't fair. She dropped him off in Happy Harbor, bade him goodbye, and flew off. He walked back to the cave, lost in thought. Would he have been in her place, if the tables were turned and she was the clone? Would he like that? He would have liked having a family, having children. He wanted that now. But he couldn't have children. He liked M'Gann a lot but he knew she wouldn't be opened to the idea of having children so early in life. He picked that up from the culture around him, it wasn't a good thing for people as young as them to be having children. He walked into the cave deep in thought, the computer announcing his presence.

"Where have you been!?" cried M'gann. She had come as soon as his presence was announced, along with Black Canary and Red Tornado.

"Out." Said Superboy

"You can't just disappear like that." Said Black Canary angrily. Superboy shrugged.

"I was out visiting my sister. I came back. I'm fine, so what's the problem." Said Superboy

"Your whereabouts were unknown. We became worried." Said Red Tornado

"Well don't be. I'm here now." Said Superboy going to his room. He needed a shower, a good meal, and some time to himself.

"Wait, Superboy, don't just walk away!" called Black Canary. Superboy ignored her and went to his room. He caught the beginning of their conversation about his sister. He'd tell them later. Right now he just needed some time.


	11. This Had Better Be Good

A/N: About the whole mutant subplot well this whole thing was born out of a bet that I couldn't take my mish-mashed version of the Marvel universe and combine it with Young Justice and also do a fem!Robin story and write a convincing teenage romance between fem!Robin and Kid Flash and make it coherent and entertaining for the readers. So yeah, if you want please review and tell me if I've succeeded in my very complicated endeavor.

On the way home from Gotham Barry Allen had gotten the full report on one Rachel Grayson, now it was Iris' turn. She smiled and nodded as her favorite and only nephew went over, once again, how dinner had gone.

"Did I tell you about the pie? It was really good pie. There was cinnamon on top, not too much but enough to be good. Rachel likes pie, but she doesn't eat a lot of sweet stuff because Bruce wants her to be healthy." Said Wally over breakfast. Iris smiled and nodded.

"You told me about the pie, Wally." Said Iris as she ate her breakfast. Barry had already gone to work and she had to leave soon too as did her nephew but Wally was too engrossed in the conversation to care about keeping a schedule. He'd just run to school and make sure nobody saw him.

"Oh, and I'm still not sure if her dad likes me. He was scary, really scary, but he didn't kill me. He likes pie too, I think. He got a lot happier when it was desert time. Oh, and they didn't serve any gold with dinner." Said Wally

"He'll probably like you eventually, don't worry. That's just how dads are. It's been years but I think my father might be starting to warm up to your uncle." Said Iris. Wally smiled. It might take years but her dad would eventually like him.

"Did I tell you that she was a gymnast?" said Wally his mind going a mile a minute. He couldn't sleep last night, he kept replaying the day's events over in his mind.

"Yes Wally, and what's this about gold eating?" asked Iris

"Oh yeah, sometimes she eats gold. She says that it doesn't taste like anything so I'm not really sure what they point is besides, you know, being rich enough to eat gold." Said Wally excitedly. She was just so interesting, everything about her was interesting and oh! He just couldn't stop talking about her even though he figured he must have been getting kind of annoying.

"Wally, I don't mean to bring you down or anything but are you sure about this?" asked Iris. This girl lived all the way in Gotham. Eventually Wally was going to have to explain how he managed to get to Gotham from Central City each day. It hurt to have to talk about this because it would upset him but he had to think these things through.

"Really sure, she's great and she likes me and I like her and it's great. Wow, everything's great." Said Wally quickly. He needed to see her again. Maybe if he pretended to be sick and snuck out while Aunt Iris was at work…no, that wouldn't work. Rachel had to go to school.

"I mean, she just lives to far away…" said Iris. She just didn't want Wally to get hurt. Certain secrets had to stay secret and she knew first-hand how those secrets could hurt a relationship.

"Don't worry, she thinks Uncle Barry's working in Gotham and I'm staying with him. When that excuse runs out I'll think of another one. She's really trusting like that…hey Aunt Iris?" asked Wally now looking a lot less excited.

"Wally?" asked Iris softly noticing her nephew's sudden mood swing. He was like this before, excited then worried then happy then tense back when he first became Kid Flash.

"I feel kind of, well, bad that I'm lying to her." Said Wally. It just hit him, he was lying to her and not a little lie like saying her dress didn't make her look fat or something like that even though she could never look fat because she was a gymnast and could probably walk on her hands and fold herself into a pretzel-no wait that was a contortionist well she could-

"You have to lie to her to protect her. If you really do care about her, and you spend years together, and make a commitment to each other, then you can tell her. Right now I wouldn't." said Iris. She had originally thought that Barry was cheating on her, the way he would break dates and be out of contact with vague answers to account for his whereabouts and when he told her he was the Flash she was actually hurt that he had kept something like that from her. Now she knew he was trying to protect her but her feelings were still mixed on the subject.

"So when if we get married then I should tell her. Thanks, Aunt Iris." Said Wally speeding over and hugging his aunt. It made sense. He trusted Rachel and knew that if he ever did tell her she probably wouldn't tell anybody, not that he was stupid enough to tell her after only being her boyfriend for two weeks, but he also knew that if he told her then it would put her in danger from his enemies.

"Your welcome, now get going before you're late for school." Said Iris. She wanted to tell him that his chances of marrying this girl were low, very low, because she wanted to spare him the heartache she had felt when she was his age. She knew how he was feeling and knew, from Barry, to multiply it times ten. Honestly in the beginning Barry had been a little…clingy…to say the least. She shuddered to think of what he would have been like at fifteen with his first girlfriend.

"Bye, I'll be home tonight after seeing Rachel and patrol and stuff." Said Wally thankful that most of the interesting stuff happened as the night wore on. He didn't envy Robin at all. The villains in Gotham were scarier and decided that all crimes must be committed either in the middle of the day or super late at night. Robin. He'd better try and hang out with Robin too. Maybe he and Robin and Rachel could hang out together. Maybe Rachel could bring a friend for Robin so he wouldn't feel left out. A girlfriend, he didn't believe all those rumors about his best friend. If Robin was like that then he would have said something, right?

Wally spent his school day watching the clock and catching various trains of thought. He felt like he had just gotten through an all you can eat coffee and candy buffet with the way his mind was racing. He considered yesterday to be a success because her dad hadn't killed him and he had a great time and he now knew what her belly button felt like so yeah, it had been a good day. Now he was going to see her again and maybe hang out at her house and put a dent in that videogame collection or go to the diner again or just hang out in the park and talk and see where talking went. Yes, he was very excited.

Rachel Grayson was also happy but kept that happiness mainly to herself. She was mostly tired when she got up, having gone on patrol after Flash came and picked up Wally. She could have sworn that Flash knew who she and Bruce were, but that was crazy. Bruce wouldn't tell anybody his secret identity ever. Alfred wouldn't even know if he could get away with not telling the man. It would be doubly worse if Bruce went around telling everyone that she was Robin. If everyone knew then what was the point of dressing up like a boy? Why was she pretending to be a boy and making her life more complicated if Bruce was just going to go around telling his friends their secret identities.

She must have been imagining things. Lack of sleep and too much excitement would do that to a person. All in all, except for Bruce's cliché dad lines and Alfred interrupting her and Wally while they were doing stuff it was a good day. Well, until the awkward Batmobile talk that came after. Were all of these talks going to be taking place in the Batmobile from now on?

" _Rachel, we need to have a talk."_

" _Yeah, well, it's getting kind of late so let's talk in the morning."_

" _No, I think we should talk now."_

" _There's no weaseling out of this, is there?"_

" _No."_

" _Really?"_

" _No, now stop trying. I know Alfred went over the new addition to the guest policy with you."_

" _Ok, ok, I'll keep the door open. Can we not talk about this anymore?"_

" _I just don't want you doing something at your age that you're going to regret."_

" _I'm not going to get pregnant, ok? That's what the shots are for. Can we please talk about something else? Anything else?"_

" _Sometimes one thing leads to another-"_

" _I'm the one that hacked the system and changed all the screen savers!"_

" _I know. Now back to what I was saying, I just want you to be careful and to remember that you're young and you have your whole life ahead of you to-"_

" _I took the Batmobile out for a joyride!"_

" _No you didn't."_

" _Well I get it, ok? Keep the door open. Gotcha. Can we talk about something else? Those were some really dumb criminals, weren't they? I swear those must have been the stupid criminals in Gotham."_

" _Rachel, go to bed."_

" _Thank you."_

There hadn't even been ice cream. She never, ever, wanted to have any version of the talk ever again and especially not from Bruce. Why did the man torture them both? Well, aside from the whole loving her like his own biological child thing. Still, she and Wally hadn't even done anything and he was going around acting all suspicious like they were really doing stuff. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to do stuff. She wasn't even sure if she was completely clear on what all of that stuff was. She suspected that the internet was not a completely reliable source on what exactly regular people did.

As a direct result of that conversation she had been up for quite some time thinking about stuff. Some of it of the dirty variety and some of it just general stuff. If Flash did know that she was Robin and he told Wally then would Wally be mad at her? He probably would be, especially if they were doing stuff and he found out that she was Robin. She wasn't going to tell him. No, that was the stupidest thing she could possibly do.

Keeping this from him left a bad taste in her mouth. Not literally, existentially. She tried to get rid of it by training harder, becoming Robin. As Robin she had much fewer fuzzy feelings for him, mainly because she could hide behind the mask. She trained in her Robin outfit under the excuse that she did all of her work in it anyway. She wondered how long she could be Robin for. Eventually she'd grow up and most likely wouldn't be able to pass for a boy anymore. Unless Bruce decided to retire her Robin and pretend that he got a new one when she got too old.

Wasn't that what she wanted, to work with Bruce and be a hero forever? To save people, to make a difference in the world? To one day become Batman? No, Batgirl? Batwoman? Actually Nightwing sounded pretty cool. If she grew up and became whoever then she'd get a sidekick too. Maybe one of her own kids. Her and Wally's kids…and now she was going into uncharted waters. She liked Wally, a lot, but she wasn't ready to settle down, get married, have some kids, and start a superhero dynasty.

These were the thoughts which had been running through her head like a hyperactive hamster on a one of those little wheels all day.

"Rachel, Earth to Rachel!" said Babs snapping her fingers. Rachel looked up from her history book.

"Huh?" asked Rachel. She had zoned out again. At least it was only history, she was doing good in that class.

"The bell rang, it's time for lunch." Said Babs

"Right. Sorry, I was just thinking." Said Rachel collecting her things. She and Babs exited the classroom, grateful that they had avoided the crush of leaving students.

"You've been a total space case all day. Dinner with dad go that bad?" asked Babs. Rachel shook her head.

"Worse. He used…dad lines." Said Rachel shuddering at the last part. Babs gave a knowing laugh. Being the commissioners daughter she was familiar with the art of dad lines.

"While he just so happened to be cleaning his guns?" asked Babs

"No guns but he did threaten to kill Wally if he ever hurt me." Said Rachel. It was nice that Bruce cared about her but he knew Wally was a good guy.

"If you so much as lay a hand on my daughter I'll kill you and bury your body where no one will ever find it." Said Babs in a comically deep voice.

"Yeah, now I know why our yard's so big." Said Rachel as they reached the lunchroom, the smell of the finest cafeteria food money could buy assaulting her senses. Ooh, pizza today!

"How'd he take it?" asked Babs as they got in line. As luck would have it Artemis was standing right behind them. Rachel wanted to say hi but decided that enough people were overlapping between her and Robin's lives.

"Alright until Bruce started asking really, really personal questions." Said Rachel as she stood in the world's slowest lunch line. How difficult was it to pick out a slice of pizza?

"Personal?" asked Babs perplexed.

" **Personal**." Said Rachel with emphasis. Understanding lit up Babs' face. This caught Artemis' attention and she leaned slightly forward. It wasn't eavesdropping if they were in a very crowded and public lunch line, was it?

"You mean he actually asked if…?" said Babs leaning in conspiratorially.

"He used the words…physical partners." Stage whispered Rachel. Babs threw her hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp, suddenly much more grateful that her father stuck to death threats and gun cleaning.

"He didn't. I mean…why?" asked Babs

"To torture him." said Rachel. Finally, pizza! She felt as hungry as Wally after a mission.

"Well, what did he say?" asked Babs quietly. Rachel took a slice of pepperoni pizza trying to be nonchalant as possible since she strongly suspected that she had grabbed Artemis' attention.

"He said 'none!' and his voice got all squeaky and he turned really red. I thought he might drop dead right there." Said Rachel. Ok, now she knew Artemis was eavesdropping. Epic fail at being nonchalant. So she was being very 'chalant' then? Yeah, epic win at being chalant.

"Well that's good. Right? I mean he's like my age and guys my age can be really, well, pushy." Said Babs as they got to the end of the lunch line and swiped their student ID's.

"He's not pushy at all. He's really nervous, actually. It kind of cute." Said Rachel as they sat down. She pretended not to notice that Artemis was sitting at the table right behind them. Artemis wasn't usually the girly gossip type but that was the sneaky picture-ninja girl from her first day. Word on the street was that she Bruce Wayne's daughter, skipped a bunch of grades so she was like super smart, and was so sickeningly nice that she gave you cavities.

"He seems really sweet but isn't he kind of, you know, old?" asked Babs concerned. This had been worrying her. Rachel was so little and sweet and she didn't know how boys could be. She was happy that her friend had found a real boyfriend but she also had a healthy amount of suspicion.

"No, he's only fifteen. I'm almost fourteen anyway. Ooh, what kind of theme should I have for my party? I'm thinking like a big grand ball and I ride down a giant staircase on a white horse." Said Rachel blatantly changing the subject.

"But isn't your birthday in-" started Babs before Rachel gave a dismissive wave.

"It's never too early to start planning, you know, because of caterers and venues and all that." Said Rachel grateful that Babs took the bate.

"Can horses even walk down stairs?" asked Babs picturing the worst case scenario.

"If they can't we'll train one too. Or maybe I should be lowered from the ceiling like last year!" said Rachel hoping that the change in conversation would keep Babs off the subject of Wally's age. Age was just a number, right? Besides, she didn't want to tell Babs about the belly button thing. No, she'd just keep that one private.

"Or remember the year before that when you popped out of a cake? And then there were sparklers?" said Babs. She and Rachel had been friends since elementary school and she knew when Rachel was trying to change the subject. She hoped that nothing bad came of this. Being the commissioner's daughter made her familiar with all too many of the 'something bad' scenarios.

"Maybe I can have another sleepover, like when we were little. No, but then I wouldn't be able to invite the whole school like last year." Said Rachel. Rachel Grayson needed to be liked and the best way to be liked was to be nice, fun, and throw epic birthday parties that blew everyone else's out of the water. Well, that and she did like a good party.

"Seriously?" muttered Artemis as the rich girl in front of her went on about her crazy birthday party. Artemis was most certainly not jealous, no, she just thought that what Rachel was saying was utterly ridiculous…and just because horses could climb down stairs didn't mean that it was good for them.

"What's her problem?" whispered Babs so that the new girl with the amazing hair couldn't hear. She knew that Rachel could get a little…excited…but she was an orphan who lost her parents in a tragic circus accident she so could be as over the top as she wanted.

"I dunno. Anyway, how'd your math test go?" asked Rachel. She didn't want to talk to or about Artemis. The less people who knew her as Rachel the better.

"Great, A-." said Babs. They talked and ate until they had to depart to their separate classes, the subject of Wally not coming up again. Rachel was happy that it didn't come up because she didn't like Babs being worried for her but also a little disappointed because for reasons she had yet to fully explore she loved talking about him. She stared at the clock, willing time to go faster. It mocked her. If she was a less moral person she'd sneak into the school after hours and tamper with the clocks so that they would run fast but she wouldn't because that seemed like the kind of thing that would start her descent to the dark side. Today clock tampering, tomorrow the world!

Wally had never been so happy to hear the sound of the bell in his life. He rushed from school to Gotham, he had been waiting to see Rachel all day. He wanted to spend time with her, go somewhere, do something. The world around him was a blur, he was running to fast too see. He slowed down to human speed in a deserted alley and then walked the rest of the way to Gotham Academy. He stood by the gates looking for her but trying to look like he wasn't. Girls didn't like it when guys did that right? It looked clingy, right? Hey, was that-?

"What are you doing here?" asked Artemis. She had spotted Wally standing there, outside her school, just standing there. No, he was looking for somebody? For her? Why? And no, the thought of him coming to see her did not make her the least bit anything good.

"Me? What are you doing here?" asked Wally. Why wasn't she in Star City with her 'uncle' Green Arrow?

"Me? Well obviously I wear this uniform for fun." Said Artemis. Of course he wasn't there for her.

"So why aren't you in Star City? You know, where you uncle lives?" asked Wally not believing for one second that Green Arrow was her uncle.

"He's lives **there**. I live **here**. I zeta over **there** to see him. Now, why are you **here**?" said Artemis with her hands on her hips. Some of the other girls were looking at her and the whispering amongst themselves.

"I'm waiting **here** for my girlfriend who goes to school over **there.** " Said Wally. She was hot but so, very, infuriating…and not just because she replaced Speedy on the team.

"You have a girlfriend?" asked Artemis surprised. He had actually won some girl over with his bad, bad, very bad flirting.

"You say that like it's hard to believe." Said Wally feeling just a little insulted.

"You really have a girlfriend? And she lives in Gotham? And goes to this school?" asked Artemis. As far as she knew he lived in Central City…in Kansas…and he certainly wasn't in Kansas anymore.

"For your information her name is Rachel and she's great and yes she is my girlfriend." Said Wally. Why was it so hard to believe that he had gotten a rich, smart, pretty, gymnast who liked videogames and ate gold?

"Rachel Grayson?" asked Artemis in disbelief. This was the guy that girl had been talking about? Him?

"Yeah, you know her? What did she say about me?" asked Wally quickly. Artemis thought about telling him that his girlfriend was gossiping about him in the lunch line but thought against it. This was his relationship and she wasn't touching that one with a ten foot pole.

"I know of her. Hey, how old are you?" asked Artemis. He was way older then thirteen, that was for sure.

"Fifteen?" said Wally trying to see where she was going with this.

"You know she's only-" started Artemis before a very high voice cut her off.

"Wally, who's she?!" said Rachel stomping over. She had heard what Artemis was about to say and knew that she had to put a stop to it. If Wally knew how young she was he might not have wanted to do any of the stuff they did together. Besides, she'd be fourteen soon anyway.

"Nobody, Babe. I swear!" said Wally putting up his hands in surrender. Great. Now she was mad at him.

"Really? Then why is she standing so close to you?" asked Rachel. She didn't want Wally talking to Artemis the civilian. Artemis the sidekick was fine because then she was Robin and Robin was not Wally's boyfriend. Out here they were all civilians and Artemis was older then her and blonde and-ugh! She just did not want Wally hanging out with her as a civilian.

"Hey, hey, he's yours. All yours." Said Artemis walking away from the situation. She was not going to fight a thirteen year old girl over Kid Mouth over there. No way.

"Seriously, she's no one." Said Wally as he grabbed Rachel's hand. Artemis walked away and pretended that it didn't sting.

"Really?" asked Rachel lacing her fingers with his. She knew that he wouldn't but it still hurt seeing Artemis talking to him and standing so close. Only she could get that close to him….when he was Wally anyway. She supposed that Kid Flash was a different story.

"Really. I just survived dinner with your dad, I'm not going to cheat on you." Said Wally pulling her into a hug. She smelled like vanilla. It was nice.

"Ok, I'm sorry I went all nuts and stuff." Said Rachel as she wrapped her arms around him. Wow, his shoulders were broad. When head his shoulders gotten this broad.

"So…you wanna go hang out?" asked Wally still holding her.

"Yeah, c'mon." said Rachel reluctantly breaking out of his embrace. They still held hands as they walked down the slightly less depressing streets of Gotham. He didn't have the urge, the buzzing, to run when he was with her. He was almost fully in the moment, it was nice.

"So, where are we going?" asked Wally, part of him praying that it was somewhere semi-private so he could see what flavor of lip stuff she was wearing today.

"How about the diner again? I'm kinda hungry." Said Rachel knowing that he must have been starving. He let go of her hand and put an arm around her.

"Babe, you had me at food." Said Wally. She giggled and rested her head on his chest. Her spine decided to voice its concern but she decided that a few minutes wouldn't give her permanent back problems. They walked down the street, him narrating his day while she listened with rapt attention. By the time they got there she now knew that he had spent the entire day spacing out, much like she had, and it had gotten him in trouble, an area which she had not had too much of a problem with.

They sat in a booth across from each other, his hand still over hers. This was nice. She was nice. Her skin was so very, very soft. He dragged his thumb over her knuckles, she smiled and looked down. Who knew that skin was so sensitive? She giggled and rested her foot on his. She saw that in movies before, it was romantic, right? Wally wasn't sure if he should kick her back or not but he was saved by the arrival of their waitress. They ordered, ate, talked about their day, and left. Rachel had, at some point, decided that she wanted to continue what they started yesterday. At least until it stopped being OK.

"Rachel? Um…do you wanna…go to the park again?" asked Wally after they finished paying and split the check. He wanted to get it, she wanted to get it, so it was either pay twice or split the bill.

"Yeah…that'd be great." Said Rachel. She wanted to kiss him again, to lay down next to him, because she had been thinking about this all day. Curse hormones and puberty and the 'special time in her life'!

"Ok." Said Wally, his voice deciding to go up an octave. He was still holding her hand and they were walking but the nerves were getting to him. He wanted to have a repeat of what had happened last night, she seemed Ok with it, but he also remembered the whole 'don't go to fast' thing. She had already let him…so did that count as too fast? He ruminated on this the entire way to the park. They walked off the path, into a part thick with trees where it was much more difficult for a concerned member of the public to see them. Judging by the beer bottles around them many other people had that idea.

"Um…you wanna sit down?" asked Rachel looking down. Who knew that there were so many different kinds of beer?

"Ok." Said Wally waiting for her to sit down before he did. Two weeks, well almost, and he was still nervous. That was good, right? They weren't going too fast then, right?

"Wally." Said Rachel. She reached a hand up and ran it through his hair before cupping his face. She sat up a little and pulled him into a slow, sweet kiss. He kissed her back, his hands finding her waist. She continued to kiss him slowly, leaning back as he leaned into her.

"You're really good at that." Said Wally when they broke apart for air. If she knew half of the thoughts that were going through his head she'd probably run away and then send her dad to kill him. He couldn't help it, with him being fifteen and stuff. Still he knew not to act on them even though he really wanted to.

"You too." Said Rachel breathlessly. She felt warm, inside and out. She wanted to kiss him again, she wanted him to hold her. She wanted lots of things, some of which she wasn't all too sure about. He leaned in and kissed her, this time she opened her mouth.

"Coconut." Said Wally before kissing her again.

"Huh?" asked Rachel pulling apart from him. They were so close, and he was holding her, and it was so nice.

"Oh, uh, your lipstick. Its coconut today." Said Wally before kissing her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he went for her hair again. He managed to run a hand through it before she took his hand and put it back on her waist, where her school shirt had ridden up. His hand was on her bare side. It tickled but this time she didn't laugh. He moved his hand higher up her side, she tensed when he got a little too high.

"Sorry." Said Wally moving his hand back down. He mentally kicked himself at top speed. Too fast, much too fast! She probably hated him now! She probably thought he was a creep and she'd break up with him and then-oh.

"Is this ok?" asked Rachel, her hand just under his shirt by his belly button. She was curious and did this completely on impulse.

"Y-yeah." Said Wally. When did he become so ticklish there?! He kissed her again, this time with less energy. These were slow and sweet. These gave time Wally to think. He came to the conclusion that it just didn't get any better than. He was a superhero, he had a great girlfriend, and for almost two weeks he had been making out with her every day. Yup, it was good to be Wally West. Rachel was more focused on the feel of Wally's stomach than on evaluating her life. His skin was smooth and she could feel the hard muscle just under it. It was nice. This was nice….her phone ringing was not nice. She reluctantly pulled away from him and fished her phone out of her bag. Her Robin phone.

"Damn it." Said Wally. Judging by his reaction the world needed Kid Flash just as much as it needed Robin.

"I've got to go. Alfred wants me home." Said Rachel

"Yeah, my Uncle wants me home like right this minute so I, uh, can't walk you. Sorry." Muttered Wally. Rachel was going to pretend that it didn't hurt. So was Wally.

"It's Ok. Call me later?" asked Rachel throwing her backpack over her shoulder.

"Sure, Babe," said Wally. They went off in different directions. Him to the Gotham zeta and her to become Robin. Both of them were thinking the same thing; 'this had better be good.'


	12. Not Going To Say 'I Told You So'

If Rachel wasn't sure that Bruce had the cave thoroughly bugged she'd say all those words she wasn't allowed to. M'Gann had called everyone to the cave and while Rachel was originally confused she could now see the reason for M'Gann's urgency.

"What happened?!" yelled Rachel over the sound of something breaking.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" said M'gann as she flew about in a panic.

"What's wrong with Superboy?!" said Wally running over to his friends. Whatever it was it had to be bad, that pile of plastic and wires used to be the TV.

"I just said that it felt like a telepath had been in his mind!" cried M'Gann as she tried to telekentically restrain Superboy who was taking his anger out on the walls now.

"What is going on here?!" asked Kaldur as he ran from the Zeta tube. They were obviously under attack and his friends were just standing there talking.

"Superboy's losing it." Said Artemis as she shot an arrow at Superboy. The arrow hit its mark and foam immobilized him for a moment before beginning to crack.

"I just…he seemed so upset and his mind was…I'm sorry." Said M'Gann

"Where's Red Tornado?" said Rachel as Artemis shot him with another arrow, foam once again keeping him secure.

"He and Black Canary left after Superboy came home….and then this happened…" said M'Gann wiping the tears from her eyes. This was all her fault. She shouldn't have been in Superboy's mind but he came back and he felt so terrible and she just wanted to know what happened and then she noticed the state his mind was in…

"We need to get him out of the cave before he takes it down." Said Kaldur

"What?! He can't be around people like this!" said Artemis

"He's going to cause a cave in if he keeps pounding on the walls like that." Said Rachel, her glove confirming her theory. Superboy had already managed to cause some structural damage, not to mention the sheer amount of their stuff he broke.

"This is…this is all my fault." Said M'Gann, tears making their way across her green cheeks.

"Hey, it's alright. You were just worried." Said Wally putting a comforting arm around her. He could have sworn he saw Robin glaring at him through the domino mask.

"Artemis, how many of those arrows do you have?" asked Rachel turning away from Wally. No, she was Robin now and she didn't care if Wally was holding Miss M like that.

"I'm gonna run out of arrows before he gets tired." Said Artemis

"We need to calm him down somehow. M'Gann, can you enter his mind and calm him down?" asked Kaldur. He knew that Superboy would not appreciate someone pawing through his mind but it was either calm him down or let him bring the cave down over their heads.

"What?! No! I mean, I won't alter his mind." Said M'Gann

"You're not altering anything, just making sure that he doesn't, you know, crush us under this mountain." Said Wally reassuringly. Rachel felt something twisting inside of her. Robin ignored it, now it was work time.

"Yeah, it doesn't look like he's calming down anytime soon." Said Artemis as Superboy got free and threw the couch across the room.

"Alright…if it's for his own good…" said M'Gann. Instantly Superboy stopped moving and stared blankly ahead. M'Gann had a similar blank expression as she stood there with her hands on her head in a gesture to stabilize herself. She devlved deep into Superboy's mind and smoothed out the angry edges, following a path already laid before her.

"I think its working." Stage whispered Wally as he leaned back towards Robin who was still mostl likely glaring at him through that stupid domino mask. What was Rob so mad at him about?

"Don't distract her." Said Artemis elbowing Wally in the chest. Rachel surveyed the damage. No more movie nights or hot meals for a while, that was for sure. Not to mention all the structural damage Superboy probably caused.

"It's done." Said M'gann dejectedly. This was all her fault, and just when he was starting to come around too. She felt gross, like she had been swimming in salt water and didn't shower. It felt terrible, invading and altering his mind like that.

"It's alright." Said Kaldur putting a reassuring hand on M'Gann's arm. She shrugged out of his grasp. She knew that he had to calm down and that he was going to destroy their home and hurt their friends but she still felt terrible.

"What was that all about?" asked Rachel. She had been so distracted that she hadn't kept tabs on the goings on of the cave. She should have put a tracker on Superboy the minute he started looking upset. Then she could have informed the League of his coordinates and they could have retrieved him before any damage had been done.

"He…went to visit his sister." Said M'gann as she told Superboy to lay down and have a nap. He turned what was left of the couch right side up and laid down.

"His sister? That crazy mutant girl?" asked Artemis remembering full well their battle with that team. They were trying to capture Superman, among other things. They were either very dumb or very crazy.

"She's not a mutant, she's half Kryptonian. She took Superboy to her home and that's where another telepath, it felt like a group of them, altered his mind." Said M'gann

"What do you mean, altered?" asked Kaldur fearing the worst. This would have to be brought to the attention of the League, this was beyond their ability to mend.

"They calmed him down…like I did…they made him like them." Said M'gann. She felt no better than those mutants who had hurt Superboy, or the genomorphs who had imprisoned him. it hurt her, hurting the person she loved. It was like hurting herself.

"We need to inform the League so that they may help Superboy and fix whatever those people did." Said Kaldur in a voice that left no room for debate…so of course there was a debate.

"I think the last thing he wants is more people in his head. Besides, M'gann said that he was fine aside from the whole 'trying to keep him from losing it' thing." Said Wally. He didn't want Superboy to lose it again and maybe even get kicked off the team because of how unstable he was.

"They have to know so they can fix him. Besides, how are we supposed to explain this?" asked Artemis. She knew that Superboy would be benched until he got himself under control and she didn't want that but she also didn't want him going berserk in the middle of a mission.

"Crazy party? No, seriously, we should at least tell J'onn." Said Rachel. Maybe Superboy was unstable due to emotional issues or maybe it was something in the cloning process. Either way the guy needed help. He also needed to have his mind picked through for information about the mutants who seemed hell bent on making themselves enemies of the League. Who knew what kind of mental suggestions they had implanted, what they could make Superboy do. Who knew what kind of information they had gotten out of Superboy, and what they were going to use it for.

"I just…I don't want him to get hurt anymore." Said M'gann. She just wanted to help him, to see what was wrong. Now he hated her and he would always hate her. They could never be together now and it hurt. It hurt in a way that she had never hurt before.

"So we are decided. I will inform the League of what has happened. M'gann, keep him calm. The rest of you try and see if there has been any serious damage and salvage what you can." Said Kaldur. The team made Moises of agreement and went onto their tasks.

"Aww man, he broke the TV and the fridge." Said Wally. Yup, this was definitely unfixable. Now where was he going to hang out and eat snacks after missions?

"At least he seems to have left our rooms alone. Well, mine anyway." Said Rachel with her back to Wally. She was Robin and she was working so she wasn't going to hang out with him because she really wanted to be Rachel right then even though she knew she needed to be Robin. This was going to work, she was not going to listen to Bruce's 'I told you so' lecture.

"Dude, what's with you?" asked Wally. Robin never sounded so…well…distant. Almost like he was mad about something. Wally racked his brain for a reason that his best bro in the whole world could be mad at him. They hadn't fought or even argued. In fact they hadn't hung out at all since….oh.

"Nothing, just worried about Superboy." Said Rachel not looking at Wally because if she looked at Wally when she would want to kiss him and this was neither the time nor the place. It would be funny though, to see everyone's reactions to 'Robin' just randomly kissing Kid Flash. It would lighten the mood…no, no, bad train of thought.

"He'll be fine, he just needs time, I guess. I mean, it's gotta be big, you know. His dad keeps on ignoring him and he finds out he's got a sister he never met and she turns out to be a criminal and she had a kid and stuff." Said Wally. He knew he was babbling. This was big. Superboy had gotten angry before but never with this much damage to their own property. He was going to get benched and then what? He lived here, he didn't have any family or any other friends. What would happen to him if the League decided that he was too unstable to be a part of the team.

"What he needs is anger management." Said Artemis. He was her friend and she knew that he would never hurt her or the team but he was a different person when he was angry. From what she could gather he was mostly angry that he was a clone, which they couldn't fix, and he was angry that Superman was ignoring him, which they could fix. Then again he apparently had another kid that he actually made…he was still better than her father though.

"A little therapy with J'onn or Black Canary couldn't hurt." Said Rachel

"You're agreeing with her?" asked Wally looking comically appalled. Rachel rolled her eyes behind her domino mask. What was his problem with Artemis? She didn't replace Speedy on the team, Speedy didn't want to be on the team in the first place.

"Somebody has to." Said Rachel with a noncommittal shrug of her shoulders. Artemis scoffed in disbelief.

"Seriously?" asked Artemis. Not Robin too. He seemed so much more mature than Kid Flash. That other guy, Red Arrow or whatever, didn't want to be on the team. She did. He could join the team whenever he wanted, he chose not to.

"And she has a good point. Superboy does have some anger problems." Said Rachel. Before she could blink Wally had an arm around her.

"No, no, she got to you…why, God, why?" asked Wally dramatically. Apparently his plan to lighten the mood backfired as Robin didn't even smile. Ok, something was really wrong with Robin. Well, he had been hanging out with Rachel a lot in Gotham and hadn't even bothered to make an effort to see his best friend…yeah, he messed up.

"I'm gonna go check my room. See if he did any damage after all." Said Rachel getting out from under Wally's arm. She knew full well that the path of destruction hadn't really reached that far, she thanked her glove for that, but she needed to get away from Wally. When he threw his arm around her, a gesture he had performed numerous times before, she felt like she was back at the park. She wanted to kiss him more than anything and it scared her. What if…no, she just needed more practice being Robin when he knew her as Rachel, that was all.

Calls had been made and Superboy had been taken to the Watchtower for a full mental scan. The League assured the team that the cave suffered no significant damage and that what was damaged could be repaired and their items replaced. Superboy had made a path of destruction from his bedroom to the living area but left the rest of the cave untouched.

M'gann would be staying with her uncle while the repairs were made. She was still despondent over what had happened and what she had done. She never wanted to hurt him and she had. Now he would never want to be with her. She didn't know why she loved him, only that she did. She was draw to him due to his good looks and tragic life but that wasn't what led her to love him. No, it was something else. It didn't matter, he probably hated her now.

Matters of love, or really liking someone, weighed on Rachel as well. What if they were in the middle of a mission and she couldn't separate being Rachel from being Robin? Robin was a boy and was most certainly not in any kind of a relationship with Kid Flash. Rachel was a girl and she was most certainly in a relationship with Wally. She knew that those people, those lives, could never overlap but in her mind they were starting to. She wished that she could have been girl Robin from the beginning, then she wouldn't be having these problems. If she had been a girl then she could have been with Wally as Robin and then maybe if they got married or whatever later on then she could tell him her secret identity. She was thrown from her not quite brooding when her Robin phone began to vibrate.

' _U ok? Can we talk?'_ it was from Wally. Oh God, what did he want to talk about? Did he put two and two together and figure out that she was Robin? Was he going to break up with her for lying to him? Was he mad at her? She took a deep breath. It was probably about something else.

' _What's up?'_ replied Rachel, her thumb hovering over the send button for just a few moments too long.

' _Can I come in?'_ Rachel felt her heart pound against her ribcage. Wally had been in Rachel's room once before and it was wonderful and a little scary and exciting but this was different. This was Kid Flash coming into Robin's room, a place where he had hung out millions of times without kissing Rachel or anything like that.

' _OK'_ replied Rachel. She sat up on her bed and straightened her Robin outfit. She hadn't taken off the mask, she didn't want to be Rachel right then. Now…well she wasn't sure what she wanted. She leaned back and attempted to act natural as her door opened.

"Rob, I'm sorry." Said Wally quickly as he closed the door behind him. He had changed into his civvies, yet another Flash T-shirt and jeans. Rachel wished he was still in his Kid Flash outfit. It would have made everything easier.

"For what?" asked Rachel truly confused. Ok, he didn't barge in angry at her for lying to him…that was good…but what was he on about?

"For ignoring you. I mean, I know you probably know that I've been in Gotham a lot and….well I'm sorry we didn't hang out." Said Wally searching for the perfect words. Robin must have felt terrible. The guy couldn't have had many friends with the responsibility of protecting Gotham and having Batman as a…father? Uncle? Caretaker of somekind.

"You haven't been…" said Rachel trailing off because yes, he had been ignoring Robin. It hadn't occurred to her to be hurt by this but now she was even though it made no sense, her and Robin being the same person and all.

"I know I have. It's just that, well, remember that girl?" said Wally

"Yes." Said Rachel, a bit more harshly than she had intended. The last thing she wanted to talk about was herself.

"Well, she's my actual, serious, exclusive girlfriend now and she, uh, takes up a lot of my time." Said Wally still trying to find a good way to say what he meant.

"I've noticed." Said Rachel in that same tone. Seriously, she did not want to discuss herself with her boyfriend.

"Not that we aren't friends, well, because we are. It's just that, well Uncle Barry explained it like this. There's two kinds of relative time. There's the relative time that I go to when I run really, really, fast and the world slows down around me. There's also the relative time that I perceived in my head. See, it feels like I've known you my whole life even though we've only been friends for, like, three years and it feels like I've known her months even though it's been actually less than two weeks. Anyway, when I fall for someone I fall hard and fast and I'm sorry for ignoring you like a jerk." Said Wally bringing his lecture to a close. He looked over at Robin. He was sitting with his knees up to his chest now, thinking really hard. He looked kinda cute when he did that, especially that lower lip biting thing…and now he was going to weird places. It was just because Robin looked kind of girly, that was all. Yeah, that was all.

"Ok. I forgive you." Said Rachel. Robin would have forgave Kid Flash and Rachel would have forgave Wally so there was no debate. Well, there was a little debate. If he fell for her hard and fast, a thought that made her feel all warm inside, then couldn't he fall out of love…or like…really fast too? She didn't want to think about that.

"Really?" asked Wally. That was it? No argument, no reasons why his reasons were stupid?

"Yeah. I mean, we're hanging out now aren't we so it's alright." Said Rachel. She realized how Rachel the way she was sitting was and instantly decided to sit cross legged. That was much less girly. She couldn't help but feel girly around him, he made her feel all fuzzy inside.

"Wow, you are definitely more mature than me." Said Wally in disbelief.

"You're just now realizing this?" asked Rachel, smiling now. This was better. This was more like Robin and Kid Flash. Now all they needed was junk food and videogames.

"So, uh, Superboy left your room alone." Said Wally feeling a little nervous for reasons he couldn't identify.

"Yeah, wanna play something?" asked Rachel. She knew that she needed to get back home but Gotham, hopefully, wouldn't burn down just because she hung out with her best friend/teammate/boyfriend.

"Rob, you read my mind." Said Wally. It was nothing, nothing at all. So Robin looked a little girly, he was an acrobat so had to be small and he was still a kid. All guys looked a little girl before puberty decided to wreak havoc on their bodies. He just missed Rachel so much he was seeing her everywhere. Yes, that was it. He was in no way shape or form attracted to his best friend.


	13. Doubts

Rachel hadn't realized how much she missed this. Just hanging out with Wally, as Robin of course, and just having fun. It nice. He's nice. Arcades are nice. Pizza is nice. Everything is nice.

"You're dead!" said Wally through a mouthful of pizza. They're at an old school style arcade in Gotham, enjoying the unlimited games and overpriced pizza.

"You'd think so." Said Rachel jumping at just the right time. Now her character was running on the bottom of the screen, trapped in some digital limbo between life and death.

"Dude, you hacked the game?" asked Wally. He hadn't even seen Robin do anything, the kid was just that good.

"No, just exploiting a little glitch is all." Said Rachel leaning over and sipping her soda. Alfred was so going to have a heart attack when he found out what she had been eating.

"How, exactly, are you going to get out of there?" asked Wally, triumph in his voice. Rachel smiled and freed her little digital person from limbo.

"Admit it, I'm awesome." Said Rachel

"I admit nothing." Said Wally leaning over her and stealing her pizza slice. She froze up and died as he brushed against her.

"Sorry, crazy metabolism." Said Wally. He had been trying to show Robin and good time and had been succeeding until this little hick up.

"You owe me another slice. I'm thinking, extra cheese and extra pepperoni." Said Rachel recovering herself. She was Robin now, civvies Robin was still Robin.

"Want some pizza with your grease?" asked Wally playfully nudging Robin. He could have sworn that Robin rolled his eyes underneath those glasses.

"Want a napkin to go with your grease?" asked Rachel. Wally instantly wiped his hands on his shirt without thinking. Great, now Aunt Iris was going to kill him.

"Great, now you owe me another Green Lantern T-shirt." Said Wally. He didn't know why he did it, he just didn't want to be all messy around Robin. It was…embarrassing? Something like that. It was weird.

"Anything to get you out of that Flash fixation." Said Rachel ignoring how unbelievably cute he looked right then. She was Robin and Robin did not find his best friend cute or attractive in any way.

"Speaking of fixations…" said Wally motioning to her oversized Batman hoodie.

"I'm not the one wearing Flash boxers." Said Rachel. Wally quickly tugged his pants up.

"Dude, not cool!" said Wally

"You knew the risks when you put on the uniform." Said Rachel before polishing off the last of her soda. She just guessed by the color of the band…not that she was thinking about him like that or anything.

"More Coke?" asked Wally taking her drink from her. Rachel nodded.

"Back in a flash." Said Wally before disappearing into the sea of unwashed teenagers and screaming children.

"Bring better jokes." Said Rachel knowing that he couldn't hear her. She left the game and went to sit down at a slightly sticky table. Ok, maybe things were a little fuzzy feeling-y when they were Kid Flash and Robin but as Wally and Robin they were just two guys hanging out, playing ancient videogames, and gorging on questionable pizza. It had hurt, a little, when Wally told her that he wasn't going to be able to meet her after school because he was hanging out with a friend he hadn't seen in a while, even if that friend was her. It was amazing how she became so used to him always being there after a little over two weeks.

"Here's your heart attack, and here's your tooth decay." Said Wally placing a slice of pizza and a giant styrofoam cup in front of her.

"Thanks, I'll get you next time." Said Rachel because that way it would feel just a little less date-like. Not that she wanted this to be date like, or that it even felt date like. No, it was just a couple of guys hanging out.

"No, it's on me. I owe you." Said Wally. Great, Robin was making that face again. What was wrong with him? Here he was with his best friend and all he could think about was his girlfriend. He should have asked her to come with, then they could have all hung out.

"I told you, it's ok. I get it, you've been busy." Said Rachel poking at her pizza. The last thing she wanted to talk about was herself.

"I still feel like a jerk." Said Wally. He did, he really did. Sure he mostly saw the team when he there was a mission, and sometimes they went a while between missions, but Robin was different. He liked to come to the cave on the weekends but sometimes he couldn't make it and even then he felt like a jerk not seeing his friends and all. Going to Gotham every day for two weeks and not even bothering to ask his best friend to hang out made him feel like, well, even more of a jerk.

"Well, don't. We're having fun now." Said Rachel resisting the urge to put her hand on Wally's. No, Robin holding hands with Kid Flash would not be a good thing at all.

"You're seriously not mad?" asked Wally between bites of pizza. Rachel tried not to grimace as sauce flew onto the table. One day she would get used to watching Wally eat.

"I'm seriously fine." Said Rachel eating her pizza slowly knowing that it was not going to run away if she didn't consume it fast enough.

"You know what? You should hang out with me and Rachel." Said Wally. That would be great. His best friend and his girlfriend hanging out together…unless it ended up like that movie Aunt Iris liked where the best friend and the girlfriend got married. No, Robin wouldn't do that. Besides, Rachel wasn't serious and broody enough for the Bat family.

"No, it's OK." Said Rachel. She had seen enough sitcoms and movie to know that pretending to be two people at once would only lead to disaster. Wally continued on undaunted.

"Seriously, you'd like her. She's really funny and nice and smart and stuff." Said Wally trying to order his thoughts. Mentally he was still stuck on that whole 'Robin and Rachel fall in love and Rachel joins the bat family' train of thought. It made no sense, Robin wouldn't do that and Rachel looked much cuter in red and yellow than she did in black.

"Wally, it's OK." Said Rachel putting a little too much stress on the OK part. She did not want to end up recreating the ending to Mrs. Doubtfire. She doubted that Wally would take the whole 'my girlfriend is my best friend' thing nearly as well.

"She'd love it here, I think. Well, if was cleaner and quieter and served tea she'd love it. Did I tell you she liked tea?" said Wally, his mind now fully back on her. He wondered what she was doing. He texted her earlier but she still hadn't replied. Maybe she was busy with her other friends. Yeah, she had other friends, didn't she?

"Only a thousand times." Groaned Rachel. Actually, it made her feel all fuzzy and mushy inside when he talked about all the things he loved about her. Rachel her, not Robin her. She wished that they were sitting on the same side of the table so she could lean into him. She'd bet her utility belt that he'd be warm and comfortable, if not a little greasy.

"Right…sorry. Still, we should all hang out." Said Wally. Rachel decided to kill this idea before it go too big.

"Wally, I have better things to do than watch you and your girlfriend make out." Said Rachel trying to sound exasperated. She didn't have to try hard. This line of conversation was getting to her.

"We wouldn't-" said Wally, choking on his soda. That was not the mental image he needed. He and Rachel at the park and then Robin standing off to the side looking bored.

"I'd just be a third wheel. Besides, I don't have to see you every single day. I do have stuff to do." Said Rachel. There was a pile of homework on her desk and hours she needed to make up in the gym. Maybe, no, Bruce was not right. She could handle this. This was not going to interfere with her life.

"Dude, we gotta find you a girlfriend." Said Wally. Then he and Rachel and Robin and his girlfriend could go on a double date. Rachel would like that, girls liked that sort of thing. Right?

"No, I'm OK." Said Rachel not needing to add another layer of complication to her already complicated double…triple life? Rachel, Robin, civvies Robin…did civvies Robin count? Well, he was supposed to be who she was when she was out of her costume. Triple life then.

"C'mon, Rachel's got a lot of friends I'm sure she could find somebody for you." Said Wally. Maybe if Robin got s girlfriend he wouldn't feel so guilty for spending so much time with Rachel.

"You don't have to." Said Rachel trying to get away from this line of discussion. She thought up a list of excuses and settled on a few, most of them revolving around being Batman's sidekick.

"M'Gann's nice, you'd like her. Artemis is more your kind of girl, though now that I think about it…" said Wally. They were both good fighters, both serious about their work, both on the same team, and they both lived in Gotham. It would work. It would work and maybe if Robin had a girlfriend than he wouldn't remind Wally of Rachel so much, especially when he made cute and vaguely kissable faces like that…and now he was going back to the weird place.

"Wally, I don't want a girlfriend." Said Rachel firmly. She bit her tongue when she realized how that sounded. She hoped that Wally took that in an 'I'm an immature kid and girls are icky' sort of way rather than an 'I'm gay' sort of way. She knew that if she jumped to explain herself the latter was exactly where his mind would go.

"I take back that more mature than me thing. You are such a kid sometimes." Said Wally. Rachel almost sighed in relief. She didn't need another layer of complication to her hero identity.

"Wanna go play that game where you shoot the zombies with the crappy light gun?" asked Rachel gulping down the rest of her pizza. A glance at her phone told her that she didn't have to be home for at least another hour.

"You're on." Said Wally, his mind elsewhere. He brought himself back to the present and proceeded to spend the next ninety minutes doing much of what he had been doing before, just a little more distracted. He felt like he hadn't spoken to Rachel in days even though he had just spoken to her last night. In his distraction he found himself standing closer to Robin than was necessary. Whenever he noticed this he corrected it before the other boy could notice. It was just because Robin and Rachel were so similar, he told himself. They were both pale with black hair. Robin was a little taller and more muscular. Rachel had bigger eyes and lips and her skin was smoother. Robin's jokes were more cutting but just as good natured. He was more serious about everything, even videogames, and Wally just couldn't see the boy wonder being nervous. He was also younger than Rachel, he thought. Probably by about a year. That was why it felt so good to be with Robin, because he reminded him of Rachel.

Rachel knew that Wally was distracted and she pretended not to notice when he stood just a little too close to her, when he hand went to her waist for a split second before pulling away. She pretended not to notice when he'd sip her soda, and take a bite of her food. Nothing good would come of noticing those things, just like nothing good would come of leaning back into him, of holding his hand, of dragging him to some secluded corner and letting him kiss her senseless. She was not going to cheat on him with himself just like he would never cheat on her with herself, especially because herself was a boy. That would be an extra layer of complication that neither of them needed.

"Sorry Wally, it's getting late and the boss doesn't like it when I'm out too late. You know, outside of work." Said Rachel trying to be nonchalant. It didn't feel good, leaving him, especially leaving without even kissing him. Damn the hormones wreaking havoc on her body and mind.

"I get it, I should probably head home too. This was fun." Said Wally as they made their way to the exit. He stopped himself from grabbing Robin's hand. Ok, he officially needed to get out of the weird place. Robin was his friend, his GUY friend. His friend who was a guy. He had gone so long without seeing his girlfriend that his best friend was starting to invade his hormone fueled thoughts.

"Well, see you later." Said Rachel before disappearing down the streets of Gotham. She took a route filled with twists and turns, just in case he decided to follow her. When it became evident that he wasn't she set off on a more direct route home. Normally at this point she would have called Alfred to pick her up but now she wanted to think. The not-at-all-a-date had gone well. Well enough, at least. She needed to stop letting her Rachel and Robin persona's bleed together so much or Wally was going to get suspicious. He was already acting weird around her as Robin so obviously they were too similar.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the angry vibrating of her Rachel phone. She woke it up and discovered several missed texts from Wally.

' _R u mad at me?'_ was the most recent text. She scrolled through the old ones. He had asked her if she was mad at him many times, as well as making many promises to make it up to her. It was sweet and made her feel all warm inside.

' _No, was busy. Helped babs with gymnastics.'_ Replied Rachel

' _Wanna hang out tomorrow?'_ asked Wally. Rachel thought back to that pile of homework on her desk. She'd get through most of it tonight and the rest later.

' _K'_ replied Rachel. She liked Wally a lot, and missed him a lot, but now she just sort of needed a Wally break. Emotionally she still wanted to be with him but mentally she needed some Rachel time before she had to be Robin again.

' _Missed u'_ said Wally. Rachel smiled. Part of her missed him too, and not just because he was such a good kisser. Being around him as Rachel was different. Not necessarily better, just different.

' _Missed u too.'_ Replied Rachel. It was getting later, the shadows were long. She needed to put her phone away before she had to explain how a thirteen year old boy managed to take down a fully grown criminal.

' _Arcade tomorrow?'_ Rachel's stomach groaned. Her body could only process so much junk food. For Wally she would survive.

' _K sounds great got to go see u then'_ said Rachel. It didn't feel good, not talking to him, but it was for her own safety and that of the criminal population. Eventually she made it home. She turned down dinner and immediately tackle all the work she still had to do. Surprisingly she had made a sizeable dent in it before it came time to patrol. Yes, this was going to work out just fine.

Bruce knew Rachel Grayson very well. He knew when she was concealing an injury, when she was keeping something from him, when she had a nightmare, and when she was in over her head. Currently she was none of those things. No, she was contemplative. Her head was in the game when they were out in the field but when she entered the Batmobile her mind went elsewhere. Bruce sighed, this was now going to be the official place where they were going to have their deep and slightly awkward Bat-talks, wasn't it?

"Something on your mind?" asked Bruce as the Batmobile coasted to a stop. Rachel looked up at him.

"You're not going to lock me in again are you?" asked Rachel. She hoped that this wasn't going to be another awkward Batmobile talk. She could only handle so many of those in a lifetime.

"Is there a reason that I should?" asked Bruce

"No, I'm just….it's about…" said Rachel trying to articulate what she was feeling without getting a big, fat, 'I told you so'. Wally knew her as two different people, his best friend and his girlfriend. It had been working for her but was it fair to him?

"Did he do something?" asked Bruce. If that boy did anything super speed wouldn't be able to help him. Bruce would hunt him down and personally make him pay for whatever he did to Rachel.

"No! He didn't do anything. I just…I hung out with him as Robin today and we had a lot of fun and it was really nice. He felt bad that he'd ignored Robin for so long and I just feel like I'm…I mean I know that I need my secret identity and how important it is! I mean…do you ever feel like you're lying?" asked Rachel playing with her gloves. Bruce took a moment to collect himself.

"Everyone who knows me, who knows the person I really am I either here or a part of the League." Said Bruce. Now he was the inarticulate one. Bruce Wayne had friends, girlfriends, acquaintances, many people who thought they knew him. The only people he was truly close with lived in the manor with him. it was different for her.

"So…" said Rachel trying to get the meaning behind what he said. Bruce put an arm around her and pulled her close, like his father and mother used to do for him.

"It's difficult, I know, but it gets easier with time." Said Bruce. It did, for him, but he was not thirteen and he was not letting his personas overlap.

"I'm not going to tell him." said Rachel. She was not sure who exactly it was that she was trying to convince.

"I know you won't." said Bruce because he trusted her. He knew that she would never endanger anybody by burdening them with her secret.

"I feel bad, though. I mean I had a good time but it's just, hard I guess, to be two people to the same person. But you're right, it'll get easier." Said Rachel. Bruce wouldn't ever steer her wrong, especially about something like this. Juggling personas was just another skill she would have to perfect.

"I know you can do it." Said Bruce. He did not approve of this situation she had gotten herself in but he knew that she could manage it and come out the other side better for the experience.

"Thanks." Said Rachel pulling away from her father and mentor. They exited the cave, her to sleep and him to complete some more of his work. It had been a good day.

Wally West's night had gone much the same as Rachel's. He went home, did his homework, ate, and went on patrol with his Uncle. Being Kid Flash almost made him forget his earlier exchange with Rachel. She wasn't happy, that much was obvious. Maybe she was just tired from gymnastics, or maybe she was upset that he had neglected her. He wasn't an expert on girls but from what he could gather they liked to spend a lot of time with their boyfriends. They also liked their space too so it was kind of a juggling act, if Aunt Iris' magazines and websites were anything to go off of.

His mind had been elsewhere and he thanked God that it had been a quiet night. The Trickster needed to be talked down and returned to his treatment facility. Some idiots decided to rob a bank right after robbing a different bank, and there was also the usual purse snatching, cats in trees, that sort of thing. If it was someone serious, like Boomerang or Cold, then he would have been in trouble. Maybe this was why Robin didn't want a girlfriend.

He thought about that too, that Robin didn't want a girlfriend or to hang out with him and Rachel. Wally wanted his best friend and his girlfriend to be friends but Robin didn't want to hang out with them together. He didn't even want to find his own girlfriend so they could hang out together as a group, which really sucked. He thought for sure that Robin would have liked Artemis. She was smart, sarcastic, kind of annoying, a little on the mean side, but strong too, and even though it pained him to admit it a good addition to the team. She was no Speedy though.

Was it because she wasn't Speedy? Originally that was why he disliked her. Now he didn't exactly like her but he didn't dislike her either. Maybe it was the same with Robin. The two of them got along a lot better than he and Artemis did but Robin had always been very close with Speedy. When they were kids Robin was always following Speedy around, trying to hang out with him, always wanted Speedy to show him how the bow worked. There was even that time when they had a sleepover, despite Roy protesting that he was way too old, and Robin at some point in the night scooted his sleeping bag right next to Roy's…oh God he was an idiot.

"I'm an idiot." Said Wally under his breath as he sped home alongside his uncle. Barry gave his nephew a sideways glance. Yup, they were definitely going to be having one of their awkward uncle to nephew talks.

"Ok, what's going on, Kid?" said Barry as he and Wally sped into the house too fast to be seen. As an extra precaution all of the blinds and curtains were drawn.

"Nothing." Said Wally as he entered his home. Aunt Iris was sitting on the couch, curled up watching TV. She looked up as her husband and nephew entered.

"Wally, are you alright?" asked Iris. He was thinking long and hard about something, that she could tell. Barry pulled his cowl down and they shared a look. It was a silent battle to determine who would handle whatever deep and awkward talk this was. It was a stale mate.

"I'm just…I hung out with Robin today and we had fun and I felt bad because I'd been ignoring him because of Rachel not that I blame her and he said that it was ok but it didn't seem like it was ok so I asked him and he said that it was ok and I asked him if he wanted to hang out with me and Rachel but he said no and then I said that he could find a girlfriend and we could all hang out together and he said no a lot and that he didn't want a girlfriend which makes me think all kinds of stuff about him that might be true but I can't just ask him because even though we're friends you just don't ask someone something like that even though if he was it wouldn't bother me and I've been thinking really weird stuff lately about him and I think it's because I haven't seen Rachel in a long time only it hasn't been a long time just to me and I'm worried and I think Robin's jealous and maybe he likes me and I really, really miss Rachel and I think she's mad at me because we didn't hang out today and Robin looks kind of girly and it's a lot, ok!" said Wally, out of breath by the time he finished. Iris cocked an eyebrow and looked to Barry to fill her in. She had gotten every other word if that.

"You know what, we need to have this talk with ice cream." Said Barry. He motioned for Iris to follow him. Wally sat down on the couch embarrassed. It was one thing to spill his guts to Uncle Barry, at least he was another guy, but it was a whole other thing to tell Aunt Iris about all of this. It wasn't anything personal, it just felt weird telling a woman that he was a little attracted to be best friend because he looked like his girlfriend and said best friend might also have a crush on him.

"So…is this a man to man thing…?" asked Iris still trying to piece together what, exactly, he nephew was worried about. It was something about juggling time between his best friend and his girlfriend…

"Iris Allen-West, have I ever told you that I love you?" asked Barry. This…this was not a conversation that he was looking forward to having. He didn't even know where to start.

"Yes you have and now I think I'll be going upstairs so you guys can have your man to man talk." Said Iris knowing a situation that she wouldn't want to touch with a ten foot pole when she saw one.

"When we have kids you're so going to owe me." Said Barry. Hopefully their kids wouldn't have these problems. He got the commercial sized ice cream container from the freezer as well as the necessary bowls and utensils. He braced himself as he entered the living room. Wally had managed to change into his street clothes and from the looks of it had even managed to get his suit back into the ring.

"So…" said Barry sitting down next to his very nervous nephew. Wally's mind was going a mile a second and he blurted out the first things that popped into it.

"Have you ever been attracted to another guy?" asked Wally before slapping his hand over his mouth. Barry sat up straighter and upstairs something heavy fell.

"Wally…are you trying to tell me something?" asked Barry. He hoped, for a moment, that his only nephew had found a nice boy to go out with and had parted with Batman's daughter on amicable terms thus causing no problems for the team or the League.

"It's just that Robin looks kind of girly and he's really fun to be around and he's smart and kind of serious but really fun too and so is Rachel and I miss her so much but I missed Robin too." Said Wally. Barry took a deep breath. He wanted tell Wally right then and there that Robin and Rachel were the same person but he knew that not only was it not his place to tell Wally that Bruce would also kill him and make it look like an accident.

"Wally-" started Barry not even beginning to know how to approach this.

"And-and Robin said that he didn't want a girlfriend which at first I thought it was because he's just a kid but he's, like, thirteen so he should be passed that and then I remembered how he was with Speedy, Roy, Red Arrow, and now he says he's OK but I don't think he is and he looks at me a lot and he gets kind of close to me and-" said Wally

"Kid, calm down. Remember what I said about reading into things too much?" asked Barry. Wally nodded.

"Because my mind goes so much faster than everyone else's I overthink a lot of stuff and make nothing into something." Said Wally before mentally slapping himself upside the head. Yup, he was an idiot.

"Exactly. You shouldn't ignore your friend, we both know that, but you also don't need to spend every waking moment with your girlfriend." Said Barry omitting the 'even though they're the same person'.

"I just want everyone to hang out together. I mean, Robin would really like Rachel and I don't think he'd steal her from me because we're friends and she wouldn't leave me anyway so it'd work out." Said Wally. Barry decided to file the jealousy talk away for later.

"I'm sure he has his own reasons for not wanting to hang out with you and Rachel. Maybe he's busy, maybe he feels like s third wheel, or maybe he has his own secret reasons that he can't tell you." Said Barry wishing that he could just run Wally up to Gotham, burst into Bruce's house, and tell Wally the conclusive truth.

"I'm just…what if he likes me? I mean I think he used to like Speedy and what if he's mad because I have a girlfriend and that's why he doesn't want to hang out with us." asked Wally. He swore that Uncle Barry looked like he wanted to say something and physically swallowed it back. Wally kicked himself for that opening question. Like that time Uncle Barry forgot to knock they'd just have to pretend it never happened.

"Well then that's his business. I'm sure that he has all kinds of secrets that he'll tell you when he's ready." Said Barry choosing his words carefully. Wally nodded, deep in thought.

"What if I like him?" asked Wally quietly. Barry was one second away from taking Wally, shaking him, and telling him the truth. Later on he was going to have many strong words with Bruce.

"Do you think you like him the same way you like Rachel?" asked Barry slowly. Wally's mind took him and Robin to the same places it took him and Rachel. Nope. Did not work.

"Kid?" asked Barry knowing that it wasn't healthy for a person to turn that shade of red. Wally practically jumped at the sound of his nickname.

"No! God no!" said Wally. While he could picture Rachel and him in certain situations doing certain things and it felt good but with Robin his mind just noped right out of there. Evidently the weird place only extended so far.

"There you go. Anything else you want to talk about?" asked Barry, praying that the answer was no. There was only so much he could take in one night.

"Um…how do I get my suit back in the ring, again?" asked Wally pulling his ring with the suit half stuck inside from behind the couch cushion.

For the millionth time Barry showed his nephew how to get the suit back in the ring, grateful that this had nothing to do with the soap opera that was becoming his nephew's life. He was absolutely going to talk to Bruce about this. He bid his nephew goodnight and went up to his room, his wife waiting for him on the bed with a book.

"Barry, do I want to know what that was about?" asked Iris, having dropped her book as she heard the beginning of their conversation.

"No you don't, but don't worry he'll be fine." said Barry laying down and closing his eyes, still in his Flash outfit. It had been a long day.

Wally went to his room but didn't sleep. He decided to leave certain things up to Robin to tell him on his own. For now he was going to make it up to Rachel next time he saw her. It had been over twenty four hours now, since he last saw her. It felt like days. Tomorrow was going to be a good day.


	14. Love and Apologies

Superboy had, at some point, run out of anger. Maybe it was some sort of telepathic influence, maybe he was just going crazy. Who knew? He certainly didn't. Anger had given way to a feeling of betrayal.

Superman rejected him. His sister tried to change him. The only beings on this planet who shared his genetic information had both decided that he wasn't good enough, that he wasn't enough. Except for his sister's children everyone had decided that he was something…wrong…something imperfect.

He couldn't fly. He wasn't completely invulnerable. He couldn't interact socially. It seemed that the list of things he couldn't do was greater than the list of things he could. Angst; that was what he was feeling. He was angsty. Great.

He had wanted nothing more than to be accepted. By his genetic parent, by what little family he had, and had faced rejection at every turn. Was it because he was an artificial person? Was that it? His sister had accepted him. She had taken him into her home and introduced him to her family. He had lived among them for one day but they had felt the need to go into his mind and change who he was.

Superboy heard movement outside of the room they were keeping him in. He had been confined to the Watchtower until further notice. They needed to search his mind for any changes or implanted suggestions and, even though nobody admitted it, he had heard them say he was a danger to the rest of the team. He switched his vision and saw both the first and last person he ever wanted to see.

"Hello, Superboy." Said Superman awkwardly after entering the room, one hand behind his back. His original plan was to lurk outside of his clone's room and try to work up the courage to speak to him. Well, that plan went out the window the moment he was notice.

"Superman? What-what are you doing here?" asked Superboy both excited to see his genetic parent and upset that now of all times Superman decided to take an interest in his life.

"I-I came to see you. I brought a pie." Said Superman taking the pie out from behind his back. Superboy looked at him like he had just proclaimed his love for Lex Luthor.

"Why?" asked Superboy both angry and genuinely confused.

"It's apple pie…I thought that…can I start over again?" asked Superman. He didn't know what to do here. He had two children, well one child and one clone. While he tried to figure this entire thing out the League was breathing down his neck about when he was going to be a father to Superboy, a clone he never asked for. Throwing a daughter, a biological daughter, into the mix didn't help anything.

"Why are you here? Finally?! After all this time?!" said Superboy resisting the urge to hit something. He was on the Watchtower, in outer space. Punching through a wall could be deadly not just for him but for any members of the League currently aboard.

"I wanted to apologize. I…I failed you. I failed you and I'm sorry." Said Superman looking more vulnerable than Superboy had ever seen him.

"Yeah, you did. You really did." Said Superboy harshly. Superman flinched.

"I deserved that. Can I explain?" asked Superman. It was now or never. Superboy took a calming breath and nodded yes. This is what he had been hoping for, dreaming of, for months now.

"I never thought I could have children, in fact I had resigned myself to that fact. The next thing I know I find out that someone cloned me. They somehow managed to get my DNA and-and make a person from it." Said Superman

"So that's why you hate me? Because I'm an artificial person?" asked Superboy

"No, I don't hate you. I just….I don't know anything about raising children and you're not a child, you're practically a man. I never set out to make you and I had no idea about you or what you were or anything like that. I was, I was afraid Superboy. I was afraid." Said Superman hanging his head waiting for whatever judgement the clone would pass down onto him. He wouldn't have faulted the boy for cursing him, banishing him from the room, and cutting all ties with the Man of Steel. He honestly would not have done any different if their roles had been reversed.

"Connor." Said Superboy after what felt like hours but was actually about a minute.

"What?" asked Superman

"My name is Connor, Connor Kent." Said Superboy at last. He was making an effort not to get angry. This was what he wanted for so very long, Superman was speaking to him and accepting him. He…he was going take this as it was because this was the best he could hope for, Superman coming to him in apology. What more could he ask for, really?

There was that old saying 'thank heaven for little girls' or something like that. Barry Allen couldn't remember where he had heard it from but he decided that for Bruce and his daughter it was fitting. Bruce was a different person before Rachel. He was moodier, darker, just an all-around less pleasant guy to be around, not that he was Mr. Sunshine now but there was a noticeable change. He went from Batman to Bruce when he got her. Barry, and the rest of the league back when it was just the seven of them, had been grateful for the change. Now Barry was not so sure.

He was happy that Wally had found a girlfriend. Lord knew the kid needed someone. Barry was just unhappy about who this girlfriend was. He liked Rachel Grayson as a person, she was a great kid, he just didn't like the inevitable fall-out which would happen when Wally learned the truth. He was already starting to see through her mask, even if he didn't realize it yet.

How could Bruce, paranoid Bruce, allow something like this? The girl was only thirteen, not even fourteen, and he allowed her to do this? She was young, he decided, too young to know how badly this was going to end. Barry didn't want it to end, for Wally's sake. Wally had been so happy, nervous and unsure, but very happy when Rachel came into his life. Barry didn't want Wally to have his heart broken but he also knew that the sooner everything was out in the open the better; before Wally and Rachel did something he was sure at least Wally had thought about.

These thoughts were what brought him to the Watchtower. He knew that Batman would be there that day. He needed to talk to Bruce, convince his friend that what was going on was a monumentally bad idea.

"Flash." Said Bruce as Barry made his presence known.

"Batman, can we talk?" asked Barry. Batman's face was as unreadable as ever.

"About?" asked Bruce knowing full well what Barry wanted to talk about.

"Robin and Kid Flash." Said Barry. He had already made his rounds, nobody was around to overhear them. The only people who knew the truth about Robin were the original seven members of the League…at least Barry thought that was who knew. Knowing Bruce one could never be sure.

"They and their team continue to perform adequately." Said Bruce. He didn't want to discuss what was going on between Rachel and Kid Flash. He didn't want to talk about it or even think about it. He trusted Rachel's judgement and knew that the more he forbid the more she would want to be with the annoying young speedster.

"Bruce, you know that's not what I want to talk about." Said Barry lowering his voice. He didn't feel like standing there all day dancing around the obvious.

"If you want to know the details of their arrangement, ask your nephew. Robin continues to perform well in school and as my protégé. Robin also had no complaints about Kid Flash and feels confident in their arrangement." Said Bruce. He knew how Flash's mind worked, how the minds of all speedsters worked. He'd chew and chew and chew on an idea in his mind until it became an obsession and then until something else distracted him. Obviously he had been obsessing over all that could go wrong and failed to realize that, being almost fourteen and sixteen years old, the relationship was unlikely to last more than a few months to a year at most. At which point Robin would most likely suffer some heartbreak, but would still be able to perform on her team and as Bruce's sidekick.

"You know that this is going to end very badly." Said Barry running out of patience. How could Bruce not see what was going to happen. They were going to get closer together and either break up and compromise their team or stay together, become more intimate, and then compromise the team…not to mention what it would do to them psychologically. Wally would be devastated to know that the girl he loved had lied to him and been his best friend all along. He knew that he would be devastated if Iris turned out to secretly be Hal…however that would work.

"They're kids. It'll be over in a few months." Said Bruce with certainty. Barry wanted to shake him back and forth at super speed, anything to knock some sense into the overgrown bat.

"What if it isn't, huh? Then what?" asked Barry. He swore that Bruce just rolled his eyes.

"Are you still with your first girlfriend?" asked Bruce. He was a little insulted by all of this. His judgement was sound and had always been so. Rachel was his daughter and was perfectly capable of preserving her identity.

"No, but that's not the point." Said Barry. Unknown to the two of them Superman had tuned a super-ear to their conversation. Sometimes the temptation to eavesdrop was just too much for the Kryptonian. Anything to get his mind off of the whole Superboy fiasco.

"You don't trust me." Said Bruce stating a fact. Barry was taken back.

"I trust you, it's them I don't trust….I mean this isn't good for them." Said Barry. Bruce idly wondered if a few well place batarangs would knock some sense into his friend.

"Robin has been happier lately and continues to perform as he has in the past. I see nothing wrong with him. Eventually this will run its course." Said Bruce. He knew how Barry felt, not that he would ever admit that. He remembered when been checking Rachel's homework and came across a folder with 'Speedy' and 'Roy' and 'Misses Harper' scribbled on the inside. It wasn't easy and he had worried and made contingency plans and contingency plans for those contingency plans before having an awkward Batmobile talk with Rachel. If at ten years old she didn't compromise herself then at almost fourteen she definitely wouldn't.

"Damn it Bruce, what if they-?" said Barry not wanting to think about his nephew, who he still mentally pictured as an eight year old, doing that with anyone.

"Have they?" asked Bruce knowing with full certainty that they hadn't. He would have known if something like that was going on in his own home.

"Not to my knowledge…not that Wally would tell me that. God, I hope Wally doesn't tell me that, in detail anyway. He tells me way too much already I swear that kid just doesn't have a filter. Why did I tell him that he could tell me anything? I didn't think he's take it so literally." Babbled Barry, his mind going too fast for the moment. Bruce let Barry babble at a chipmunk like pace. Anything to get it out of the man's system.

"They're both too young for…activities of that nature. Robin knows that and I hope Kid Flash knows that as well." Said Bruce. 'Activities of that nature'. God, he sounded like Alfred.

"So you're just going to see how it goes?" asked Barry having gotten his mind back at the right pace.

"I know how it's going to go." Said Bruce with finality. He turned and left a very frustrated speedster to his worries. It was then that Superman decided that whatever God there was; be it male, female, both, neither, or a five year old boy like the mutants claimed, that God was punishing him. Still, having a sidekick and having said sidekick be in a homosexual relationship with another sidekick would still be nothing compared to his problems.

Back on Earth Wally West was watching the clock. It was going even slower than normal, taunting him. He couldn't wait to see Rachel again. Part of him wondered if this was healthy, spending all of his time either with her or thinking about her. The other parts of him told that part to shut up. Then his stomach reminded him that it had been two hours since their last snack.

Finally the bell decided to ring and Wally raced out of the school at barely human running speed. When he was sure he was out of sight he raced to Gotham to meet Rachel at her school. He knew exactly what they were going to do, too. Since he had gone so long without seeing her, in his mind at least, he had the perfect idea to make it up to her.

Rachel was, for once, not thinking about Wally. She had many, many other things on her mind. There was the fact that Superboy had been taken to the Watch Tower for observation (officially) and to have his mind thoroughly scrubbed of any tampering (unofficially). Through some slightly difficult hacking she had discovered a command called 'Red Sun' which if uttered would shut Superboy down for a period of four to six hours. She hoped that they didn't find anything else.

She also had Rachel worries. She had gotten an eighty nine on her last math test. She hoped, hoped, hoped that Bruce wouldn't say anything. Ok, she would study and study and study until her brain was sore. She was a straight A student. Eighty nine was not an A, it wasn't even an A-. Bruce would be so disappointed in her…

She also had her friend to group to deal with. Bette was friends with Artemis and Babs was friends with Bette and Rachel was friends with Babs so therefore Artemis was making her way into the friend group. It was one thing to be two people with Wally, he was Wally and they made out a lot, but being two different people with Artemis would add an extra layer of complication to this complication cake.

Plus, the gymnastics gym was closed due to destruction from a supervillain fight. At least she and Bruce had contained the damage to the West Wing…whatever the Joker wanted with Pom-Poms and gym mats couldn't have been good.

This was how Wally had found her, reading her math book and lost in her worries.

"Hey beautiful. Miss me?" asked Wally. He had watched her for a moment after decelerating where no one would notice him. She looked so…cute…with her hair framing her face and her nose all scrunched up like that. Rob never looked like that…not that he was thinking of Robin or anything.

"Wally! Hey." Said Rachel leaning over and giving him a peck on the lips. She heard a retching sound in the background.

"Hi, Artemis. Do you need the nurse? I think she might still be in." said Rachel sweetly.

"What are you doing here?" asked Wally. It was after school. What, did she stay at school all night and wait for tomorrow to happen?

"Archery club." Said Artemis holding up her civilian bow. She didn't know why it drove her crazy to see Wally with that Rachel girl. Maybe because she was so young and Wally was so annoying. Well, he was kind of sweet sometimes…no, he was always annoying.

"They're still meeting even after what happened to the west wing?" asked Rachel still smiling that sweet thousand watt Rachel smile.

"Yeah, our stuff was already outside and barely anything got damaged." Said Artemis

"Wait, what happened?" said Wally. He wasn't just referring to the topic of their conversation but also to the situation. Artemis could not be friends with Rachel because Rachel was his girlfriend and Artemis was his teammate and-and what if Artemis let something slip and Rachel put two and two together because she was like, so smart, and then the entire house of cards came tumbling down and-and it would all be his fault?

"Joker. Don't worry, Batman stopped him." said Rachel taking Wally's hand in hers. She did not like the way he was looking at Artemis. She knew how relative time worked for him. What if he was already getting over her? What if the relationship felt like years to him even though it hadn't even been a month to her?

"That's…good." Said Wally his mind still on that horrible train of thought. What if villains found out that she was affiliated with Kid Flash and then kidnapped her and then someone like the Joker tried to get to Batman through her because she was going out with Kid Flash who was Robin's best friend who was Batman's son/nephew/little brother/kid he hung out with sometimes?

"Wally? Earth to Wally?" said Rachel. Wally shook his head a little too quickly. Artemis hoped that Rachel didn't notice. The last thing they needed was for a civilian to out two and two together. She was trying to avoid Rachel, actually. Through that Barbara Gordon girl their friend groups were intersecting and Artemis already knew Wally from the team and he was going out with Rachel and…yeah…it would be a mess if she was ever to put the legendary brain to use.

"Sorry babe, I was just thinking." Said Wally realizing that he was holding her hand.

"About me, I hope." Said Rachel trying to use her best flirting voice.

"Yeah, I gotta go." Said Artemis. She did not want to watch her teammate make out with a thirteen year old girl.

"See you later, Artemis." Said Rachel waving a little more than was necessary.

"So…you guys are friends?" asked Wally

"Sort of. She's friends with my friend's friend so we're friends by default I guess. I don't know, I try to be everyone's friend." Said Rachel

"But you guys aren't, like, good friends or anything? Right?" asked Wally

"No…" asked Rachel not sure of what, exactly, it was he was getting at.

"Good." Said Wally. He was worrying about nothing. Artemis and Rachel weren't even good friends so it was pointless to worry about Artemis letting anything slip while they braided each other's hair and watched chick flicks or whatever it was that girls did when they were together.

"Were you…serious…about that whole pregnant lesbian thing?" asked Rachel tentatively

"What…oh that? No, that was just some….temporary insanity." Said Wally. Rachel giggled. Wally thought it was one of the most beautiful sounds in the world, next to the school bell and the ice-cream truck.

"Good, because I'm neither of those things so stop being weird." Said Rachel leaning into his chest.

"Sorry, I'll, uh, I'll stop. Anyway, I have a surprise for you." Said Wally

"What?" asked Rachel jumping up and down on her heels excitedly, trying a little too hard to be cute. Wally either didn't notice or didn't mind.

"Close your eyes and hold my hand." Said Wally. Rachel smiled, closed her eyes, and tightened her grip on his hand. Two bus rides later they reached their destination.

"Ta-da!" said Wally as they finally, finally reached their destination. Rachel opened her eyes and was greeted by an unexpected sight.

"The Gotham Hotel?" asked Rachel in disbelief. She expected an arcade or a videogame store or a basket of puppies even but not this.

"I remembered you said that this was your favorite place and I hadn't seen you in a while and I had some money saved up so I googled Gotham Lounge and the internet said that it was in the Gotham Hotel so I wrote down the directions because my printer was out of ink and then I went to your school and brought you and-" said Wally before Rachel put a hand over his mouth.

"Wally this is…thank you." Said Rachel. Passing people, busy with their own lives, paid them no mind as Rachel stop up on her toes and kissed him.

"I…you're welcome." Said Wally catching himself before he scared her off. The last, very last, thing he wanted to do was to scare her off and telling her he loved her would no doubt send her running.

"How about you get us a table while I go to the bathroom to change out of my uniform?" said Rachel, his hand on her waist making her voice do that flip flop thing.

"S-Sure babe." Said Wally. Rachel made her way to the bathroom and glanced at her phone. Great, it was getting late. She decided to text Babs.

" _Babs, w/Wally cover for me if Alfred call hanging out at the Gotham hotel in that room bruce always has booked thnx"_ texted Rachel as she closed the handicapped stall behind her. Bruce was out doing Bruce Wayne things and Alfred was taking that time to make modifications and repairs to the Batmobile.

" _Ok, call me if u need anything and don't do anything u don't want 2 do"_ Rachel rolled her eyes, Babs was acting like an overprotective mother. Wally wasn't like that and it wasn't even like they were going to do anything like that even though she used that room all the time to hang out with Babs and they would be all alone together and Alfred was usually pretty lenient about hanging out with Babs and it wasn't even a school night…not that she and Wally were going to….well did he even want to? Did she? Too. Much. Thinking.

She fired off a text to Alfred, got the ok, and then joined a very nervous looking Wally at the table.

Wally was a bundle of excitement and nerves. Ok, it was too late for high tea but he could still order a pot of the most popular tea, a cheese plate, a plate of finger sandwiches, and a plate of assorted small cakes…and then another of all of those things for him because he worked up a hunger running to Gotham from Central in his sneakers.

"So…you've taken up spoon bending?" asked Rachel. Wally looked down. He had mangled the expensive spoon which probably cost more than all of the fancy silverware Aunt Iris only brought out for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

"Sorry, I was just…thinking." Said Wally. He was about to tell her that he loved her. Did he? He felt like he did. He had never felt this way about anyone before. He wanted to kiss her, hold her, do things he had only read about and seen on the internet with her, marry her, pull down his cowl and show her he was Kid Flash….was that love? He'd have to ask Uncle Barry about it…but not the revealing his identity part because then Uncle Barry would take it the wrong way and get mad.

"Well, keep it up." Said Rachel before a pot of tea was placed in front of them. Oolong. She was partial to Earl Grey but this was OK too. Wally took a sip and tried to hide the look of disgust on his face.

"So…when do you have to go home?" asked Wally putting his tea down. Ok, he did not like tea.

"Actually not until tomorrow." Said Rachel. Wally looked at her like she had just pulled off her face to reveal some sort of bug creature like that Invasion of the Bug Men from Space movie he saw once.

"What?" asked Wally, his voice cracking in the middle. Rachel took another sip of her tea, trying to calm down. She needed to think of something other than naked Wally and naked her naked together….like the differences between different kinds of tea and the different shapes of the freckles on Wally's face.

"I had Babs cover for me. Alfred thinks that Babs and I are having a hotel sleepover. We do that sometimes, Bruce has a couple rooms booked constantly here. Alfred's busy doing stuff around the house and Bruce is out of town doing Bruce Wayne stuff." Said Rachel nervously. Wally gulped.

"You…you want to stay here with me?" asked Wally, his mind for once coming to a screeching halt. Him…her…them…that…alone…

"Do you?!" asked Rachel. Her voice going up so high Black Canary would think it was a little much.

"Look, cake." Said Wally as their food was placed before them.

"Wow…that's a lot of food." Said Rachel taking in the spread before them, grateful for the distraction.

"I have a crazy fast metabolism." Said Wally shoveling food into his mouth because, yeah, he was hungry and being nervous only made it worse and he had every right to be nervous considering what his girlfriend has just asked him. He was tempted to pull out his phone and send out a quick text to Robin. The smarter, thinking, part of his brain told him that it would be a bad idea. Either Robin liked him like that and did not want to know about what Wally might or might not have been about to do or Robin was just jealous and also didn't want to hear about what Wally may or may not have been about to do. Either way it wouldn't end well.

They ate, Wally quiet and Rachel talking animatedly about nothing really, mostly her friends. Wally mostly nodded, ate, and was lost in his own mind. He came to the conclusion that he would go with whatever she wanted to do and stop her if…if it was something he wasn't ready to do. Rachel came to a similar conclusion.

Rachel had originally planned on hanging out in the one of the rooms Bruce had on retainer watching some crappy movie and making fun of it or something like that and either coming home or sleeping over at Babs'. It hadn't even occurred to her that she and Wally would…not any serious thoughts anyway. Just idle thoughts.

"So…this is it." Said Rachel. Bills had been split, key cards had been collected, and elevators had been ridden all in near silence.

"Wow….why do you guys go home, again?" asked ally after Rachel opened the door. This room was the size of his entire first floor. Was that-was that a hot tub? A minibar? And oh my God that was the biggest TV Wally had ever seen in his life.

"Because we love Alfred dearly." Said Rachel kicking off her shoes and tossing her backpack on the floor next to Wally's. He was zipping around at barely human speed.

"Oh my God there are, like, fifty toothbrushes in here! And, like, ten different kinds of shampoo and conditioner! Free toothpaste! Free shower cap! Free cologne!" said Wally zipping out of the bathroom and into the main room.

"Free TV, free wall paper! Free paintings! Free trampoline!" said Rachel doing a cartwheel onto the bed. Wally jumped on the bed next to her.

"This. Is. Awesome." Said Wally because it really was. So much stuff, such a massive TV, such a massive bed, such a cute girlfriend.

"Yeah, me and Babs used to have sleepovers here all the time last summer before school got started." Said Rachel, laying down next to Wally. He propped himself on one arm.

"Hey, Rachel?" asked Wally, his voice low and heavy making Rachel's spine tingle pleasantly.

"Yeah?" asked Rachel quietly, as if Bruce would come swinging through the window in full Batman garb. He wouldn't do that, he had no way of knowing what was going on. All of the bugs had been removed by Bruce and the remaining ones had been removed by Rachel weeks ago and she hadn't picked any up with the software on her phone.

"Can I kiss you? Is that OK?" asked Wally. Rachel nodded. Wally leaned down and kissed her, innocently at first and then deeply. She kissed him back. His hand found her bare stomach, her hand found the bottom of his shirt. She was seeing him. He was seeing her.

"You are so beautiful." Said Wally breathlessly. She was perfect, so very perfect. Rachel blushed and resisted the urge to cross her arms in front of her chest. She kissed him again. His hands worked behind her back.

"Is this…is this OK?" asked Wally having trouble forming coherent thoughts. His mind was on a loop of Rachel and oh my God this is real and for some reason Uncle Barry's embarrassing lectures.

"Y-Yes." Said Rachel. Later on she knew she would use the phrase 'one thing led to another' but for now she would just be happy being with him. He did manage to complete his task and, honestly, it was up there with getting his powers in terms of most amazing moments of his life.

"Rachel Greyson….I love you." Said Wally and he meant it.

"I-I love you too, Wally." Said Rachel ninety percent sure They didn't do it or anything close to it but the two of them, or at least Rachel, were nowhere near ready for that.


End file.
